THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  ILLINOIS 


LIBRARY 

From  the  Library 
of  the 

Diocese  of  Springfield 
Protestant  Episcopal 
Church 

Presented  1917 


Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date  stamped  below. 


University  of  Illinois  Library 


A CHURCH  HISTORY. 


A 


CHURCH  HISTORY 


OF  THB 

First  Seven  Centuries, 


TO  THB  CLOSB  OP  THB 

SIXTH  GENERAL  COUNCIL. 


BY 


MILO  MAHAN,  D.D.. 

SOMBTIMB  S.  UARK'S-IN.THB-BOWbW  PROFBSSOR  OP  BCCLBSIASTICAL  HISTORY  IN  TK« 
GBNBRAl.  THXOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NBW  YORK. 


NEW  YORK: 

POTT,  YOUNG  & CO., 

COOPER  UNION,  FOURTH  AVENUE. 

1872. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by 
MRS.  MARY  G.  MAHAN, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


M.  H.  MAU.OKY  A GO., 
PB11«TE£S  AND  XLECTBOTYPBM, 
HABTVOBS,  GOMV. 


-CJO 


'Zl  0 


[The  first  three  Booh  of  this  History  are  a simple  reprint  from  the  first 
Edition  published  in  i860,  the  Author  having  left  no  copy  with  corrections,  and 
the  Editor  having  added  only  an  occasional  reference  in  a foot-note.  The 
fourth  and  fifth  Books,  including  the  account  of  all  the  **  undisputed  General 
Councils,’*  were  left  by  the  Author  prepared  for  the  press,  having  been  finished 
some  years  before  his  departure,  even  to  the  marginal  notes.  There  has  been 
nothing  for  the  Editor  to  do,  except  to  continue  the  Chronological  Table,  and 
the  table  of  Contents,  and  complete  the  Appendix,  besides  which,  he  has 
added  a full  Index  to  the  whole  work. — J,  H.  H.  Jr.] 


PREFACE 


The  following  History  is  intended  chiefly  for  the  use  of  the 
general  reader ; with  a view  to  whom,  results  are  given  rather 
than  learned  disquisitions,  and  the  references  are  made  as  far  as 
possible  to  authorities  easily  accessible. 

It  is  hoped  that  it  will  also  be  found  a help  to  young 
students  and  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.  In  the  case  of  such, 
however,  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  Eusebius  is  close  at  hand ; 
and  at  least  one  good  text-book  such  as  Gieseler’s  Church 
History,  which,  especially  as  arranged  in  Smith’s  American 
Edition,  is  invaluable  for  its  exact  and  copious  citations,  and 
for  its  excellent  bibliographical  apparatus.  Its  principal  defect 
is  one  incidental  to  all  text-books;  namely,  that  anatomizes 
the  body  of  Church  History  to  the  prejudice  of  its  life, — giving 
an  aggregation  of  facts  nicely  arranged  and  labelled,  instead 
of  that  living  flow  of  events  in  their  natural  order  by  which 
(according  to  the  maxim,  soloitur  ambulando)  history  explains 
and  justifies  itself.  It  is  hoped  that  the  present  volume,  by 
following  as  far  as  possible  the  narrative  form,  and  by  dis- 
tinguishing the  development  of  Church  life  in  individuals,  in 
Schools,  and  finally  in  the  great  Provincial  Churches,  will 
help  to  supply  this  deficiency,  and  facilitate  the  profoundly 
interesting  and  comprehensive  study  to  which  it  is  offered  as 
an  humble  contribution. 


VllI 


Preface. 

The  author’s  obligations  to  the  innumerable  laborers  who 
have  preceded  him  in  this  field  it  would  be  only  tedious  to 
express.  As  Dr.  Schaflf,  however,  is  one  of  the  most  recent 
among  these,  and  is  sometimes  referred  to  in  this  volume  with 
expressions  of  dissent  from  his  opinions,  it  seems  but  just  to 
bear  witness  to  the  high  merits  of  his  two  admirable  and 
learned  works,  as  presenting  some  of  the  best  results  of  modern 
German  criticism  in  a form  quite  intelligible  to  the  English 
reader. 

To  those  who  understand  what  Church  History  is,  no  apol- 
ogy is  needed  for  a new  work  on  the  subject.  The  narrative 
of  the  three  years  of  the  Ministry  of  our  Lord  required  four 
men,  four  minds,  and  four  different  points  of  view  to  do  justice 
to  it,  though  written  under  the  guidance  of  an  infallible  Inspi- 
ration. Much  more  is  there  room  for  many  men,  many  minds, 
and  many  different  points  of  view,  in  a subject  which  covers 
all  time,  and  in  dealing  with  which  no  sort  of  infallibility 
can  be  decently  laid  claim  to.  No  one  book  can  pretend  to 
be  a History  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word.  The  best  effort, 
like  the  worst,  is  merely  a History  according  to  this  man  or 
that,  according  to  one  bias  or  another; — as  a general  rule, 
the  worst  bias  being  that  which  makes  the  loudest  professions 
of  being  free  from  bias.  The  following  work  claims  nothing 
on  that  score.  It  is  written,  however,  according  to  the  best 
judgment  and  best  intentions  of  the  author,  with  a sincere 
effort  to  state  facts  as  they  have  come  down  to  us  from  anti- 
quity ; and  as  such  is  commended  to  the  kind  indulgence  of 
the  charitable  reader. 

General  Theological  Seminary, 

New  York,  April  5,  1800. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

N.B. — The  Bishops  of  Rome  Italics;  of  Jerusalem  (J) ; of  Alexandria  (A)  ; 
of  Antioch  (An) ; Martyrs  are  distinguished  by  a f . 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

Tiberius.  33  S.  Stephen.f 

30 

33  Church  in  Jerusalem. 

35  James  (J). 

Persecution — Dispersion. 
Gospel  preached  in  Samaria, 

37  Caligula. 

Caesarea,  Cyprus,  Phenice. 

The  Twelve  in 

(Simon  Magus.) 

41  Claudius.  Palestine. 

40 

44  Herod  Agrippa  dies. 

45  Church  in  Antioch. 

45  S.  James  the 

46  Claudius  expels  the  Jews 

Greater.! 

from  Rome. 

Barnabas, 

54  Nero.  Paul, 

Silas,  and  others. 

50 

50  Council  in  Jerusalem. 

Church  Centres  established  in 

Alexandria,  Corinth,  Ephesus, 

Linus.  62  S.  James  the  Just.f 

Rome  — ( Judaizing  teachers 

Cletus.  63  Symeon  (J). 

60 

and  Gnostics  in  Asia  Minor, 

Clemens.  S.  Peter, f Anianus  (A) , 

Parties  in  Corinth,  etc.) 

and  S.  Paul.! 

64  First  Persecution. 

Euodius,  \ 

68  Galba.  Ignatius,  / 

69  Otho. 

69  Vitellius. 

69  Vespasian. 

70 

Destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

71  S.  Thomas.! 

73  S.  Bartholomew.! 

Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  each 
with  its  Angel  or  Bishop. 

79  Titus. 

80 

81  Domitian. 

(Nicolai tans,  Docetae,  Cerinthus, 

85  Avilius  (A). 

Menander.) 

Anacletus?  k , 

Evarisius  ? ^ ipas.! 

90 

Second  Persecution. 

98  Nerva.  98  Cerdo  (A). 

Nerva  forbids  accusations  of 

99  Trajan. 

slaves  against  their  masters. 

100 

Edict  against  secret  societies. 

Justus  (J). 

S.  Polycarp  fl. 

no 

Third  Persecution. 

1 17  S.  Ignatius.! 

Correspondence  between  Pliny 

1 17  Hadrian. 

and  Trajan. 

1 19  Alexander.  Ammias. 

Insurrections  of  the  Jews  in 

Quadratus. 

Aristides. 

120 

Egypt  and  Cyrene. 

Papias. 

Fourth  Persecution. 

130  Sixtus  /. 

Bar  Cochba’s  Insurrection. 

135  Marcus  (J). 

130 

135  ^lia  Capitolina. 

138  Antoninus  Justin  M.  fl. 

140 

(Gnostic  Sects  and  Schools.) 

Pius. 

(Basilides,  Valentinus,  Marcion.) 

140  Telesphorus.  Hegesippus  fl. 

150 

(Montanus.) 

X 


Chronological  Table. 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

1 A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

152  Hyginus.  , 

150 

(Paschal  Controversy.) 

154  Anicetus, 

Polycarp  confers  with  Anicetus. 

Athenagoras. 

160 

1 61  Marcus  Melito  of  Sardis. 

Fifth  Persecution. 

Aurelius.  Apollinaris. 

Synods  respecting  Easter  and 

173  Soter, 

Montanism. 

S.  Polycarp.f 

170 

The  Thundering  Legion. 

S.  Pothinus.f 

(Tatian,  Bardesanes.) 

177  Eleuthe-  Dionysius  of 

Persecutions  at  Lyons  and 

rus.  Corinth  fl. 

Vienne.  Preachers  sent  to 

180  Commodus. 

180 

Britain.  Commodus  favors 

Irenaeus  fl. 

the  Christians. 

Theophilus  (An). 
189  Demetrius  (A). 

Pantsenus  fl. 

Pantaenus  goes  to  India. 

192  Victor,  Apollonius.f 

190 

192  Helvius  Per- 

(Victor  excommunicates  the 

tinax.  Clemens  fl. 

Asiatic  Churches.) 

IQ.I  Didius  iq<;  Narcissus  fD. 

Several  Synods  holden. 

Julianus. 

197  Jews  and  Samaritans  rebel 

194  Septimius  Tertullian  fl. 

200 

and  are  subdued. 

Severus.  202  S.  Irenaeus.-|- 
197  Zephyrinus,  Origen  fl. 

Minucius 

202  Sixth  Persecution. 

Felix  fl. 

Libelli  pads. 

21 1 Caracalla. 

210 

212  Alexander  (J). 

(Patripassian  and  Monarchian 

217  Callistus. 

Heretics.) 

Hippolytus  fl. 

217  Macrinus. 

Ulpian  the  lawyer  collects  all 

219  Heliogabalus. 

220 

the  edicts  against  Christians, 

222  Urbahus  Julius  Afri- 

and  incites  to  persecution  in 

canus  fl. 

Rome. 

222  Alexander 

(Sabellius  fl.) 

Severus. 

230 

(New  Platonic  School,  Ploti- 

230 Pontianus. 

nus.) 

235  Anterus, 

236  Fabianus, 

235  Maximinus 

235  Seventh  Persecution. 

Thrax.  Babylas  (An). 

Synod  of  Iconium. 

237  Gordianus.  Firmilianus  fl. 

240 

238  Pupienus. 

(Origen  converts  Beryllus.) 

Balbinus. 

244  Philippus  Arabs. 

Church  in  Numidia  and  Mauri- 
tania. 

249  Decius.  Fabianus.^ 

250 

249  Eighth  Persecution. 

Trajanus.  Cyprian  fl. 

Development  of  Discipline. 

251  Cornelius, \ Greg.  Thau- 

War,  Pestilence,  Famine. 

1 mat. 

Chronological  Table. 


XI 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

252  Lucius,^  Dionysius  (A). 

252 

Goths  overrun  Asia  Minor  and 

252  Callus  and  Volusianus. 

253  Step  hen. \ (Novatianus.) 

Greece — Christian  captives 

254  Valerianus.  257  Cyprian.f 

preach  the  Gospel. 

257  Sixtus  //.f 

(Baptismal  Controversy.) 

259  Gallienus.  (Nepos.) 

257  Ninth  Persecution. 

259  Dionysius. 

260 

Valerian  taken  prisoner  by  the 

268  Claudius  II. 

Persians. 

(Sabellian  Controversy  in  Pen- 

269  Felix.  Paul,  I , . v 

270  Aurelian.  Domnus,  j ^ 

270 

tapolis.) 

(Three  Councils  of  Antioch 

— Paul  condemned.) 

275  Tacitus.  S.  Antony. 

Edict  of  Persecution — Aurelian 

275  Eutychianus. 

slain. 

Florianus  Methodius  of 

280 

Porphyry  writes  against  the 

Probus.  Tyre. 

282  Carus. 

Christians. 

283  Caius.  Lucian  the  M. 

284  Diocletian. 

Peace  and  prosperity  of  the 

(Era  of  the  Martyrs.) 

Pamphilus  of  Caesarea. 

290 

Church.  Splendor  of 

Church  buildings. 

287  D.  and  Maximian. 

294  (Constantins 

and  Galerius.) 

296  Marcellinus.  Eusebius  the 

300 

Hierocles  opposes  Christianity. 
303  Edict  of  Persecution — de- 

Ch. Hist’n. 
(Meletius.) 

308  Marcellus.  (Arius.) 

struction  of  the  Churches. 
Tenth  Persecution. 

305  (Council  of  Elvira.) 

308  Maximin. 

309  Martyrs  of  Palestine. 

Caecilianus. 

310  Eusebius.  (Donatus.) 

310 

3 1 1 Death  of  Galerius  and 

Melchiades.  Peter  (A).f 

314  Sylvester. 

Edict  of  toleration. 

312  Victory  of  Constantine. 
(Donatist  troubles.) 

Alexander  (A). 
Hosius. 

320 

313  Victory  of  Licinius. 

Edicts  of  restitution. 

XU 


Chronological  Table. 


EMPEROKS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

Lactantius  fl. 

320 

318-320  Arius  proclaims  his 
Heresy. 

321  Arius  condemned  in  Alex- 

323 Constantine  sole 

Emperor. 

andria. 

325  Council  of  Nic.ea  (i.f/ 
General). 

326  S.  Athanasius, 
Bp.  of  Alexan- 
andria. 

326  Death  of  Crispus  and 
Fausta. 

S.  Helena’s  Pilgrimage. 

Juvencus  fl. 

330 

New  Rome  dedicated. 

331  Arius  recalled. 

Schism  in  Antioch. 

335  Councils  of  Tyre  and  Jeru- 
salem. 

336  Mark, 

Maximus  (J). 

336  First  expulsion  of  Athana- 
sius. 

337  Julius, 

Sudden  death  of  Arius. 

337  Constantine  II. 

Constans. 

Constantius.  j 

S.  Cyril,  Bp.  of 
Jerusalem,  fl. 

340 

337  Division  of  the  Empire. 

Death  of  Constantine  II. 

341  Second  expulsion  of  Atha- 
nasius. 

Monachism  appears  in  the 
West. 

Council  of  the  Dominicum 
Aureum. 

345  Revolt  of  the  Donatists. 

347  Council  of  Sardica. 

349  Restoration  of  Athana- 
sius. 

Donatists  subdued. 

S.  Hilary,  Bp.  of 
Poitiers. 

350 

Murder  of  Constans. 

351  Council  of  Sirmium. 
Persecution  renewed. 

352  Liberius. 

353-355  Councils  of  Arles  and 

353  Constantius  sole 

Emperor. 

360 

Milan. 

356  Third  Expulsion  of  Atha- 
nasius. 

358  Council  of  Ancyra. 

359  Council  of  Seleucia. 

Council  of  Ariminum. 

S.  Basil’s  Monks  in  Pontus. 
Ulfilas,  Apostle  of  the  Goths. 

361  Julian.  361  Meletius  (An). 

361  Council  of  Antioch. 
Paganism  restored  by 

Julian. 

Chronological  Table.  xiii 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

362  S.  Dionysius, 

362 

362  Outbreak  at  Antioch. 

the  Areopagite 

Council  at  Alexandria. 

(so  called). 

Fourth  expulsion  of  Atha- 
nasius. 

363  Jovian. 

363  Attempt  to  rebuild  the 
Temple. 

Death  of  Julian. 

Christianity  restored. 

364  Valentinian  1. 1 

364  Final  division  of  the 

Valens.  j 

Empire. 

366  Damasus, 

General  restoration  of 

S.  Jerome  fl. 

Orthodoxy. 

368  S.  Epiphanius  fl. 

367  Valens,  Arian  persecutor. 

S.  Optatus  fl. 

S.  Basil  the  Great, 

370 

Fifth  expulsion  of  Athanasius. 

i Bp.  of  Caesarea 

Clergy  restrained  by  law. 

1 in  Cappadocia. 

S.  Gregory,  Nazianzen  fl. 

; S.  Gregory  Nyssen  fl. 

S.  Ephraim  Syrus  fl, 
Pacian  fl. 
371  S.  Martin,  Bp.  of 
Tours. 

Macarius  fl. 

373  Athanasius  dies. 

1 

375  Gratian. 

377-382  Gothic  invasion. 

Valentinian  II. 

378  S.  Gregory  Nazianzen  at 

379  Theodosius. 

Constantinople. 

Philostorgius  fl. 

380 

Macrobius  fl. 

381  First  Council  of  Con- 
stantinople {2d  Gen- 
eral). 

384  Siricius.  Symmachus  fl. 

383  Rome  oecomes  Christian. 

385  Theophilus, 

Conference  of  Sects. 

Bp.  (A). 

Heresies  forbidden. 

Idacius  fl. 

38 5 Execution  of  Priscillianists. 
385-6  Contest  for  the  Basilicas 
at  Milan. 

387  Gaudentius  fl. 

387  The  Serapeum  destroyed. 

388  Theodosius  sent  out  of  the 

Chancel. 

Paulinus  of  Nola. 

390 

Sedition  and  Massacre  at 

395  Arcadius. 

Thessalonica 

Honorius. 

391-4  Pagan  religion  prohibited. 

395  S.  Augustine, 

395  S.  Symeon  Stylites. 

Bp.  of  Hippo. 

396  Alaric  invades  Greece. 

XIV 


Chronological  Table, 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

Anastasius,  S.  Chrysostom, 

398 

Bp.  of  Con- 

stantinople. 

400 

Alaric  invades  Italy. 

401  Palladius. 

402  Innocent, 

404  Gladiators  abolished  at 
Rome. 

405  Prudentius  fl. 

S.  Chrysostom  exiled. 

406  Defeat  of  Radagaisius. 

407  Theodosius  II. 

407  Death  of  S.  Chrysostom. 

408  Disgrace  and  death  of 

Stilicho. 

Alaric’s  ist  siege  of  Rome. 

409  Alaric’s  2d  siege  of  Rome. 

Spain  invaded  by  Van- 
dals, etc.  ^ 

Synesius  ii. 

410 

Alaric’ s capture  and  sack  of 

Rome. 

Alaric  dies. 

412  S.  Cyril  (A). 

412  Peace  with  the  Goths. 

S.  Isidore  of 

41 5 Quarrel  with  Orestes. 

Pelusium  fl. 

Massacres  in  Alexandria. 

416  Orosius  fl. 

Murder  of  Hypatia. 

417  Zosimus, 

419  Boniface, 

Paulinus  of  Milan. 

420 

Paganism  extinguished. 

Euodius. 

S.  Jerome  dies. 

422  Celestine,  423  Theodoret, 
Bp.  of  Cyrus  fl. 
424  Cassian  fl. 
425  Valentinian  III. 

Philostorgius  fl. 

428  Nestorius,  Bp.  (C). 

429  Genseric  invades  Africa. 

Hilary  of  Arles  fl. 

430 

Siege  of  Hippo  ; Death  of 

Peter  Chrysologus  fl. 

S.  Augustine. 

Possidius  fl. 

Roman  Council  condemns 

432  Sixtus  III,  S.  Patrick  in 

Nestorius. 

Ireland. 

The  Twelve  Anathemas. 

432  Sixtus 

431  Council  of  Ephesus 

Senensis  fl. 

General), 

434  S.  Vincent 

432  Cyril  and  John  (An)  rec- 

of Lerins  fl. 

onciled. 

Proclus  fl. 

Alienation  general  in  the 

Sedulius  fl. 

East. 

439  Socrates  fl. 

435  Nestorius  exiled. 

440  S,  Leo  the 

440 

Great,  Sozomen  fl. 

441  The  Huns  attack  Eastern 

S.  Salvian  fl. 

Empire. 

Chronological  Table. 


XV 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

444  S.  Prosper  of 

444 

448  Council  at  Constantinople. 

Aquitain. 

Eutyches  condemned. 

Dioscorus  (A). 

449  Descent  of  Saxons  in 

447  Flavianus  (C). 

Britain. 

Latrocinium^  Robber 

450  Marcian. 

450 

Council. 

451  Proterius  (A), 

451  Council  of  Chalcedon 

(4M  General), 

Attila  invades  Gaul. 

Battle  of  Chalons. 

452  Juvenal  flees  from  Jerusa- 

lem. 

Attila  invades  Italy. 
Republic  of  Venice 
# founded. 

453  Attila  dies. 

454  .^tius  murdered. 

455  Rome  sacked  by  Vandals. 

455  Maximus. 

455-582  Saxons  masters  of 

Avitus. 

Britain. 

457  Majorianus. 

457  Proterius  murdered. 

Leo. 

Pilgrimage  of  Eudocia. 

Amobius  fl. 
461  Severus.  Ruffinus  fl. 

460 

Hilary,  461  S.  Remigius, 
Bp.  of  Rheims. 

467  Simplicius, 

Anthemius. 

470 

461-7  Ricimer  in  power. 

472  Olybrius.  Sidonius  fl. 

472  Sack  of  Rome. 

Julius  Nepos. 

474  Zeno. 

476  Augustulus.  Aulus  Gel- 

Odoacer.  lius  fl. 

480 

Death  of  Ricimer. 

483  Felix  lit 

491  Anastasius. 

• 

481  Clovis,  King  of  the  Franks. 

482  The  Henoticon  issued. 

490 

(Thirty-five  years’  schism 
between  East  and  West.) 

492  Gelasius, 

494  S.  Benedict  fl. 

495  Gennadius  fl. 

493  Theodoric,  King  of  Italy. 

496  Anastasius  II, 

498  Symmachus. 

496  Conversion  of  Clovis. 

Caesarius  of  Arles  fl. 

500  I 

Victory  of  Clovis. 

XVI 


Chronological  Table. 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D, 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

507  Fulgentius  fl. 

Theodoric  persecutes  the 

514  Hormisdas,  Cassiodorus  fl. 

510 

Catholics. 

512  Trisagion  riots  in  Con- 
stantinople. 

518  Justin  I.  Theodorus 

514  First  Religious  War: 

Vitalian’s  rebellion. 

516  Authority  of  Chalcedon 

520  Justinian.  Lector  fl. 

520 

restored. 

523  John. 

526  Felix  III. 

524  Death  of  Boethius. 

525  Death  of  Symmachus. 

527  Justinian,  sole 

Emperor.  Procopius  fl. 

527-33  Reform  of  Roman  Law. 

530  Boniface  IL 

530 

529  Monte  Cassino  founded. 

532  John  JL 

532  Sedition  of  the  Nika  in 

533  Dionysius 

Constantinople. 

533-4  Belisarius  reconquers 

Exiguus  fl. 

Africa. 

535  Agapetu:,  Nicetiusfl. 

535  He  subdues  Sicily. 

536  Silverius, 

536  French  monarchy  estab- 

537 

I 

lished  in  Gaul. 

537  The  new  S.  Sophia  dedi- 

Facundus fl. 

540 

cated. 

537-9  Belisarius  recovers  Italy. 

I 

550  Primasius  fl. 

] 

550 

541  Jacob  Baradai. 

543  S.  Benedict  dies. 

546  Rome  taken  by  the  Goths. 

547  Recovered  by  Belisarius. 

548  Recall  of  Belisarius. 

549  Rome  retaken  by  the  Goths, 

j Origen’s  errors  and  the 

Three  Chapters. 

552  Rome  recovered  by  Narses. 

553  Liberatus  fl. 

553  Second  Council  of  Con- 

555 Pelagius. 

stantinople  (5/>4  Gen- 
erat), 

554  Narses  defeats  the  Franks, 
[etc. 

560  yohn  III, 

560 

559  Last  victory  of  Belisanus. 

Venantius  For- 

561  Disgrace  and  Death  of 

tunatus  fl. 

Belisarius. 

Chronological  Table. 


XVII 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

565  Justin  II. 

565 

566  Invasion  of  Lombards  and 

Avars. 

567  Disaffection  and  Death  of 

Narses. 

568-70  Great  part  of  Italy  con- 
quered by  the  Lombards. 

574  Benedict. 

578  Pelagius  TI» 

Tiberius  II. 

579  Leander,  Bp. 
of  Seville. 

Cn  Cr 

00 

0 c 

574  S.  Emilian  dies. 

581  Gildas  fl. 

Persecution  by  the  Arian 

582  Maurice. 

Leuvegild. 

589  King  Recared  brings  Spain 
to  Orthodoxy. 

590  S.  Gregory 

the  Great,  Leontius  fl. 

594  Evagrius  fl. 

590 

595  S.  Isidore  of 

595-602  Wars  against  the  Avars. 

Seville  fl. 

Evangelization  of  the  Sax- 

597 S.  Augustine  of 

ons  in  Kent. 

Canterbury. 

600 

Conversion  of  the  Lombards  of 

601  Hesychius  fl. 
602  Phocas.  Johannes  Malala. 
604  Sabinian. 

607  Boniface  IIL 

608  Boniface  IV, 

Italy. 

610  Heraclius. 

615  Deusdedit. 

610 

619  Boniface  V 

619  Council  of  Seville  anathe- 
matizes those  who  dis- 

turb or  despoil  Monas- 

625 Honorius, 

620 

teries. 

622-627  Victorious  campaigns 
against  the  Persians. 

622  The  Hejira. 

625  50,000  captives  liberated. 

626  Persians  and  Avars  repulsed 

from  Constantinople. 

628  Peace  with  Persia;  Chos- 

roes  dead. 

629  The  True  Cross  restored  to 

the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
Several  Provinces  recov- 
ered. 

XVlll 


Chronological  Table. 


EMPERORS,  CHURCH  TEACHERS,  ETC. 

A.D. 

AFFAIRS  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

Sophronius  (J). 

630 

Edict  affirming  One  Will  in 
Christ. 

632  Death  of  Mohammed. 

The  Provinces  gained  from 
the  Persians  lost  to  the 
Saracens. 

637  Saracens  take  Jerusalem. 

638  Saracens  invade  Egypt. 

639  The  Ecthesis  issued. 

640  Severianus.  Eligius  fl. 

640 

John  IV. 

John  IV.  rejects  the  Ecthesis. 

641  Constantine  III. 

641  Mutilation  of  Martina  and 

Heracleonas. 

Heracleonas. 

Constans  II. 

642  Theodore, 

642  Pyrrhus  of  Constantinople 

645  Maximus, 

recants  his  heresy,  but 

Monachus  fl. 

recants  his  recantation. 

647  Saracens  take  Alexandria. 

648  The  Typus  issued. 

649  Martin  /. 

S.  Columbanus. 

650 

655  Eugenius  /. 

Martin  of  Rome  barbarously 

657  Vitalianus.  S.  Ildefonso, 

ill-treated. 

Abp.  of  Toledo. 

660 

Origin  of  the  Paulicians. 

664  Theodore,  Abp. 
of  Canterbury. 

668  Constantine  IV. 

668-675  Constantinople  repeat- 

(Pogonatus.) 

670 

edly  saved  from  the  Sara- 
cens by  the  Greek  fire. 

672  Adeodatus. 

673  Ven.  Bede  bom. 

676  Donus. 

677  Peace,  and  Saracens  pay 

678  Agatho, 

tribute. 

S.  Boniface  bom. 

680 

Third  Council  of  Constan- 
tinople (6M  General). 

682  Leo  II. 

682  Monothelites  exiled  to 

684  Benedict  11. 

Rome. 

685  John  V. 

Leo  II.  repeats  the  anath- 

Justinian II. 

ema  on  Honorius. 

686  Conon. 

Strifes  at  the  election  of  Popes. 

687  Sergius  III. 

690 

691  Council  in  Trullo^  or 

m 

Quinisext  Council. 

CONTENTS 


BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER 

I.  — The  Organization  : — ^John  the  Baptist — Expectation  of  the  Kingdom 

— The  Kingdom  preached  in  the  Parables  and  in  the  Works  of 
Jesus — Ministry  organized — Prophetic,  Priestly,  Kingly — The  Great 
Forty  Days — The  Ascension — The  Waiting — Matthias  Chosen. — 
\^Note5,  I.  Nativity — 13.  Miracles  significant — 17.  Kingly,  Priestly, 
and  Prophetic  Ministry — 21.  The  Church  and  the  Kingdom]....  1-7 

II.  — The  Pentecostal  Gift  : — Number  of  Disciples — Assemblage  of  de- 

vout Jews — Descent  of  the  Spirit — Judaic  Foundation — In  Palestine 
and  in  the  World  at  large.  \^Note,  2.  Preparation] 7-10 

III. — The  Twelve  in  Jerusalem  : — Twelve  years  in  Jerusalem — Pentecos- 
tal Society — Dissensions — Seven  Deacons — James  Apostle-Bishop 
— Persecutions — Second  Pentecost — Dispersion — Gospel  goes  forth 
— S.  Peter’s  Visitation — The  other  Apostles.  \^Notes.  James  of 
Jerusalem — 5.  Presbyters] 10-17 

rV. — Churches  of  the  Gentiles: — Gentiles  admitted — Caesarea— Chris- 
tians in  Antioch — Other  Places — Barnabas  and  Saul  sent  forth — 
Elymas — Course  of  the  two  Apostles — Council  at  Jerusalem — 
Second  Journey,  Corinth — Third  Journey,  Ephesus — S.  Paul  in 
Jerusalem,  Caesarea,  Rome — Persecution  under  Nero.  \^Note5,  i. 
Roman  Jews — 2.  Therapeutae — 4.  Saul’s  Ordination] 17-27 

V.— S.  Paul  and  his  Company  : — The  Type  of  an  enlarged  Ministry — The 
Twelve  Foundation-stones — The  Seventy — S.  Paul’s  peculiar  Mis- 
sion— His  Companions — Barnabas — Timothy,  Titus,  Luke,  Mark— 


XX 


Contents. 


His  Helpers  and  Successors.  \^Note,  4.  Meaning  of  the  numbers 
Twelve  and  Seventy] 27-32 

—Mission  of  the  Twelve  The  Twelve— S.  James  the  Greater— 
S.  Andrew  and  others — Causes  of  Persecution — Madness  of  the 
Jews  and  Heathen — Calamitous  Times — The  Jewish  War — The 
Lord’s  Coming.  \^Note^  n.  The  Six  great  Judgments] 33-39 

VII. — Jewish  Christian  Church  Jerusalem  and  Christian  Israel— 

James  the  Just — His  relations  to  S.  Paul  and  to  his  own  People — • 
Spirit  of  Judaic  Christianity — End  of  James — Signs  of  Judgment — 
Successors  of  James — Seeds  of  Heresy — Jerusalem  taken — Chris- 
tians retire  to  Pella — Sects — Second  Overthrow  of  the  sacred  City 
— ^lia  Capitolina.  \_Note,  13.  The  Door  of  Jesus] 39-46 

VIII.  — S.  Peter  and  his  Company  S.  Peter’s  position — His  use  of  the 

Keys — Visits  to  Rome — Travels — His  Gift  and  Influence — His 
Strength  and  Weakness — His  Wife — S.  Mark — S.  Clement — Ques- 
tions of  Church  Order.  \_Notes.  i,  Petros  and  Petra — 3.  More 
than  one  Bishop  in  a City — 9.  Peter’s  Wife] 47-51 

IX. — S.  John  : — S.  John  the  Survivor  of  the  Twelve — In  Asia — Rome — 
Patmos — Ephesus — His  Character  and  Gift — Traditions — His  In- 
fluence anti-Gnostic — Gospel,  Epistles,  Revelation — Import  of  his 
later  Life — A critical  Period  of  Church  History — Second  General 
Persecution.  \^Notes.  5.  John’s  Title  of  “the  Elder” — 6.  The 
Caldron  of  boiling  Oil] 52-57 

X. — Holy  Women  : — The  Mother  of  our  Lord — Reserve  of  Holy  Script- 
ure— Legends— Other  Holy  Women — S.  Theda  and  S.  Domitilla. 

\^Notes.  4.  S.  Mary  not  the  Mother  of  James — 8.  Virginity]. ..57-60 

XI. — ^Church  Government: — All  Powers  given  to  the  Apostles  as 
Brothers,  Colleagues,  Peers — Apostolic  Aids  or  Fellows — Second 
Growth  of  the  Apostolate — One  College  at  first,  then  many — Local 
Ministry,  Presbyters,  Deacons,  Deaconesses,  with  a Chief  Pastor  or 
Bishop — James  an  Apostle-Bishop — Charisms  or  Gifts — Relations 
of  the  Orders — Lay  Influence — Legates  of  the  Apostles — Their 
Successors — The  Episcopate  self-perpetuating — Three  Witnesses — 
Metropolitan  System.  {^Notes.  2.  German  Views  of  Episcopacy — 3. 
Apostles  and  Evangelists — 6.  James  a Bishop — 13.  Parity — 14. 
The  Charisms  (Eph.  iv.  12-16) — 17.  S.  Ignatius  on  the  three 


Contents, 


XXI 


CHAPTER 

Orders — 18.  Deacons — 20.  Mutual  Benedictions — 25.  S.  Jerome’s 
Epistle  ad  Evangelum — 26.  Threefold  Episcopate] 60-76 

XII. — Doctrine  and  Heresies  ; — The  Gospel,  Christ  come  in  the  Flesh. 
— Three  Drifts  of  Heresy — Three  Types  of  Doctrine — Harmony  of 
the  Apostles — Scope  of  Doctrinal  History — Four  Heads — i.  Oral 
Teaching — 2.  Rule  of  Faith.  3.  Sacred  Writings — 4.  Heresies — 
— Gnostic — Docetse — Simon  Magus,  Dositheus,  Menander,  Nico- 
laitans — Sensuous  Heresies,  Schisms — ^Judaic  Heresies,  Nazarenes, 
Cerinthus,  Ebion — Error  combated  in  first  Principles — The  Church 
admitting  many  stand-points — Truth  in  Love.  \^Notes,  5.  The 
term  “Development” — 9.  The  term  “Rule  of  Faith” — 14.  Alle- 
gorical Interpretation — 17.  Meaning  of  Coloss.  ii.  23 — 19.  Anti- 
gnostic texts — 21.  The  term  “Knowledge”  in  i Cor.  viii. — 23. 
The  Sedition  in  Corinth — 24.  Antijudaic  texts] 76-92 

XIII. — Rites,  Observances,  Morals  : — In  Ritual  little  Instruction  needed — 
Baptism — Lord’s  Supper — Agape — Kiss  of  Peace — Laying  on  ot 
Hands — Unction — Public  Worship — Liturgy — Hours  of  Prayer — 
Fasts  and  Feasts — Asceticism — Morals — Social  Problems.  \^Note, 
15.  The  Therapeutae  opposed  to  slavery] 92-97 


BOOK  II. 

I. — Beginning  of  Second  Century  : — Seed  growing  in  secret — S.  John 
and  other  Witnesses — Domitian,  Nerva,  Trajan — Third  General 
Persecution — Trajan  and  Pliny — Martyrs — Simeon,  Justus — Ignatius 
of  Antioch — His  Position,  Witness,  and  Writings.  \^Notes,  4.  Pliny’s 
Questions — 12.  Zeal  of  Ignatius  rational — 14.  Unfair  Censures  of 
S.  Ignatius — 15.  “ Nothing  without  the  Bishop  ”] loi-lio 

Hadrian  and  the  Antonines  : — Progress  of  the  Gospel — Fanati- 
cism general — Hadrian  in  Athens — Quadratus  and  Aristides — Edict 
against  Informers — Antoninus  Pius — Marcus  Aurelius — The  Stoic 
Ideal — Three  Types  of  the  Age.  \^Notes.  i.  Increase  of  the  Chris- 
tians— 6.  Number  of  Martyrs — 8.  Hadrian’s  building  of  temples  to 
the  One  God  not  improbable — ii.  Piety  of  Aurelius] 111-118 

III. — S.  Polycarp  : — Church  in  Smyrna — Polycarp — Visit  to  Rome 
— The  Amphitheatre — Polycarp  called  for — His  Martyrdom  — 


XXll 


Contents. 


Honors  paid  him — His  conservative  Spirit.  \^Note,  8.  The  term 
Atheists”] I19-125 

IV. — ^The  Lyonnese  Martyrs  : — Gallic  Church — Christians  mobbed — A 
true  Paraclete — Charity  of  the  Suherers — Ascetic  Party — Sanctus, 
Maturus,  Attilus,  Pothinus,  Blandina — The  New  Prophets  con- 
demned. \^Noies,  I.  Foundations  in  Gaul. — 2.  The  Amphi- 
theatre]  125-131 

V. — ^Justin  Martyr: — Justin  in  search  of  Truth — His  Teachers — A 
Christian  Philosopher — His  Conversion — His  Gifts,  Opinions,  Dis- 
cussions, Creed — His  Companions  in  Martyrdom — His  Disciples. — 
\_Notes,  5.  The  Logos — 6.  Bread  and  Wine  in  the  Mysteries  of 
Mithras — 7.  “ Creation  and  Generation  ” — 8.  L^ient  Way  of 
judging  the  Ebionites — 9.  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist] 1 31-139 

VI. — Apologetic  Age  : — End  of  the  Century — Melito  and  other  Apolo- 
gists— Heathen  Opponents — New  Platonic  School — Apollonius  of 
Tyana — End  of  the  Aurelian  Persecution — Commodus — Apollonius 
a Martyr — Septimius  Severus — Sixth  general  Persecution — Seventh 
— Peace  of  thirty-eight  years — Trials  from  within.  \^Note5*  4.  Plo- 
tinus— 5.  Apollonius  of  Tyana — 6.  Legio  Fulminea — 7.  Aurelius’s 

Hatred  of  emotional  Religion — 10.  Evasions  of  Persecution] 

140-146 

VII. — Heresies  and  Schools  : — The  Church  neither  Jewish  nor  Gnostic 
— ^i.  Judaic  Sects — Clementina,  Elxaites — ii.  Gnosticism — General 
Account  of  it — iii.  Gnostic  Sects — Alexandrian — Syrian — Other 
Sects — iv.  Manichseans — v.  Sensuous  Heresies — Sect  Spirit — Spu- 
rious Writings — Chiliasm — Encratites — vi.  Montanism — vii.  Ration- 
alist Reaction — Alogi — Monarchians — Patripassians — Sabellius — 
Beryllus — Paul  of  Samosata — viii.  Schools  within  the  Church — 
Rome,  Alexandria,  Antioch.  \^Notes,  2.  “ Bishop  of  Bishops  ” — 6. 
Gnostic  Terms,  Dualism — ii.  Communism — 17.  Zoroaster — 22.  Chi- 
liast  Fathers — 29.  Anti-encratite  passages — 32.  Truth  the  sanctifying 
Power — 35.  Fasts — 36.  Lay  Priesthood — 50.  Theological  “ Obstet- 
ricians”— 52.  Scaffolding  Theories — 54.  Practical  Sense  of  Tra- 
dition]  146-175 

VIII. — Heresies,  how  Met  : — Heresies  destroyed  by  Disintegration — Age  of 
Dialectics — Exorcism  fails  against  the  Montanists — Reason  appealed 


Contents. 


XXlll 


CHAPTER 

to— Wholesome  Dread  of  Novelties — Scriptures  studied — True 
Prophets  and  False — Synods — Their  Necessity — Their  conservative 
Influence — An  Age  judged  by  its  own  Trials.  \^Notes,  5.  Apostolic 
Councils — 9,  Whole  Church  present  in  Councils] 176-182 

IX. — S.  iRENiEUS  AND  HIS  DisciPLES : — S.  Irenseus — His  Character  and 
Writings — Troubles  in  Rome — Blastus  and  Florinus — The  Mar- 
cosians — Paschal  Controversy — Irenaeus  counsels  Peace — Church 
Growth  and  Miracles — Caius — Hippolytus — Parties  in  Rome. — 
\^Notes,  13.  Orthodoxy  of  Hippolytus — 14.  The  Callistians]  183-192 

X. — The  Alexandrine  School: — Episcopate  in  Alexandria — Deme- 
trius— Centre  of  Learning — New  Platonic  School — Catechetical 
School — Pantaenus — Clemens — Origen — Martyrs — Labors  and  Writ- 
ings— 'Quarrel  with  Demetrius  — Origen  condemned — Heresy 
arrested — Influence  of  Origen — His  Disciples  and  Friends.  \^Notes, 
5.  Alexandrine  Jews,  Philo — 9.  Athenagoras — 10.  Three  Works 
of  Clement — 12.  Clement’s  Orthodoxy — 16.  Bodily  Blemishes — 22. 
The  threefold  Sense — 28.  Paradoxes  of  Origen — 29.  Methodius]... 

192-206 


BOOK  III. 

I.— North  African  Church  : — North  Africa — People,  Morals,  Relig- 
ion— Evangelized — Church  established — Scillitan  Martyrs — Sen- 
suous Bias — SS.  Perpetua  and  Felicitas — Dreams,  Visions — Mon- 
tanism — Tertullian — Questions  of  Veils,  of  Crowns — Party  Names 
— Tertullianists — Influence  of  Tertullian — A Season  of  Peace  and 
quiet  Growth.  \_Notes.  3.  Character  of  the  Africans — 4.  Phrase 
sine  charta,”  etc. — 7.  Opposition  to  the  Vx2i.yQx  pro  mora  finis — 
9.  Prayers  for  the  Dead — 14.  Converts  among  the  wealthy  Classes 
— 17.  Tertullian’s  Paradoxes — 19.  Absurd  Sects] 209-223 

II. — Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian  : — Cyprian  Bishop — State  of  the  Church 
— Virgins,  Confessors,  Clergy — Abuses — Mission  of  S.  Cyprian — 
Reform — Working  Forces  of  the  Church — Balance  of  Powers — 
Cyprian’s  Policy — Examples — Warnings  of  Judgment — Eighth  gen- 
eral Persecution — Fabianus  a Martyr — The  Lapsed — Bad  Conduct 
of  the  Confessors — Libelli  Pacis — Novatus  and  his  Party — Schism 
in  Carthage — Novatian  Schism  in  Rome — Discipline  restored  and 


XXIV 


Contents. 


chapter 

everywhere  established.  \^Noies.  2.  Primates — 5.  Antelucan  Meet- 
ings offensive — 7 and  18.  Power  of  the  Confessors — 13,  Taylor’s 
Early  Christianity — 20.  Mosheim’s  Treatment  of  S.  Cyprian — 22. 
The  Diptychs — 24.  Visions — 25.  Persecutions  needed — 29.  Eva- 
sions— 33.  Exomologesis — 40.  Evil  connected  with  a numerous 
Episcopate — 43.  Novatian — ^44.  Indulgences] 224-243 

III.  — Decian  Times  : — A great  Crisis — Early  Belief  of  the  Nearness  of  the 

Lord’s  Coming  justified — Martyrs — Seven  Sleepers — Gregory  the 
Wonder-worker  — Dionysius  of  Alexandria  — Anchorites — Great 
Plague — Inroads  of  Barbarians — Christian  Charity — Ninth  Persecu- 
tion— Cornelius,  Lucius,  Origen,  Stephen.  \^Note,  lo.  Orthodoxy 
of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus] 244-254 

IV.  — Rome  and  the  West  : — Origin  of  the  Roman  Church — First  Bish- 

ops— Eminent  Position — Centre  of  Good  and  Evil — Resort  of  Here- 
tics— Zephyrinus  and  Callistus  according  to  Hippolytus — Battle- 
Ground  of  two  Elements — Question  of  the  Day — Cyprian  and 
Cornelius — Via  media — Cyprian  and  Stephen — Baptismal  Question 
— Case  of  Martialis  and  Basilides — of  Marcianus — Valerian  Perse- 
cution— Martyrdom  of  Stephen,  Sixtus,  Cyprian — Dionysius  of 
Rome — Case  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria — Question  of  Church 
property  in  Antioch  referred  to  the  Italian  Bishops — Centralizing 
Tendency — State  of  the  Roman  Church  in  numbers,  etc. — Triumph 
of  the  Cross — Donatist  Schism — Its  Influence  upon  the  position  of 
the  Roman  Church.  [^JVb/es.  i.  S.  Peter  at  Rome — 3-8.  Expres- 
sions Relating  to  the  Dignity  of  Rome — 16.  All  Sinners  received 
after  Penance — 18.  Three  Views  in  the  Early  Church  on  irregular 
Baptism — 21.  The  term  “Papa” — 29.  Dionysius  as  a Theologian — 
33.  Calculations  from  the  Catacombs — 34.  The  Christians  not  “ a 
mere  refuse” — 39.  Heathen  Catholicity — 41.  Catacombs — 43.  Cem- 
etery Worship — 46.  Episcopal  Martyrs — 53.  Arnobius — 55.  The 
Trophy  of  the  Cross — 61.  Council  of  Elvira — 62.  Stratagem  of 
Mcnsurius — 64.  Donatist  Succession] 254-278 

V. — The  Church  and  School  of  Antioch  : — The  East  theological — 
Theophilus — Babylas — Fabius — Paul  of  Samosata — His  Faults  and 
Errors — Councils — Death  of  Firmilianus — Paul  Condemned — 
Catholic  Unity — School  of  Antioch — Lucian  and  his  Disciples — 
Last  Persecution — Martyrdom  of  Lucian  and  others.  \^No^e.  13. 
The  term  “ Consubstantial  ”] 278-286 


Contents. 


XXV 


VI.  — The  Egyptian  Church  : — Origen’s  Disciples — Dionysius — Question 

of  the  Lapsed,  of  Baptism — Chiliasm,  Nepos— Charity  victorious— 
Sabellian  Controversy — Era  of  the  Martyrs — Meletian  Schism — 
Anchorites,  Hermits — S.  Antony  and  Monachism — Martyrdom  of 
Peter — Arius  and  Alexander.  \^Notes.  9-12.  Orthodoxy  of  Dio- 
nysius— 15-24.  S.  Antony  and  Monasticism] 286-298 

VII.  — The  Churches  in  General  : — The  Great  Epic  a Type  of  Church 

History — Belt  of  the  Mediterranean — Africa — Libya — Pentapolis — 
Egypt — Arabia — Palestine — Syria — The  Farther  East — Asia  Minor 
— Macedonia  and  Achaia — Italy — Spain — Gaul — Britain.  \^Notes. 
3.  Epochs — 14.  S.  James  in  Spain] 298-309 

VHI. — Church  Life  and  Growth  : — Season  of  Peace — Gibbon’s  Five 
Causes  of  Church  Growth — The  Progress  of  Christianity  considered 
under  the  following  heads — i.  The  Conflict  between  Truth  and 
Error — ii.  The  Witness  of  the  Martyrs — iii.  Signs  and  Wonders — 
iv.  Discipline — v.  Strength  in  Numbers — vi.  Catholic  Unity  and 
Church  Polity — vii.  Church  life,  domestic,  public — Rites — Customs 
— Heathen  Point  of  View — Aversion  to  the  Arts — Austerity — Charity 
— Widows,  Orphans,  Slaves,  Captives,  etc. — Sources  of  Revenue — 
Simple  Faith  and  patient  Waiting.  \_Notes.  6.  Reverence  for  Mar- 
tyrs— 9.  Miracles  not  wrought  at  random — 19.  Ignatian  and  Cyp- 
rianic  Theories  of  the  Episcopate — 22.  Representative  Idea  in 
Synods — 23.  Development  Theory  of  Papal  Supremacy — 25.  Minor 
Orders — 27,  28.  Children  not  desired — 33.  Diptychs  and  Commem- 
oration of  the  Departed — 42.  Military  Service — 45.  Pictures — 46. 
Flowers — 53-55.  Tithes,  etc. — 57.  Non-resistance] 309-337 

IX. — Times  of  Diocletian  — Prosperity  of  the  Church — Corruptions — Dio- 
cletian resolves  on  Persecution— Destruction  of  the  Church  in 
Nicomedia — Plan  of  the  War — Edicts — Cruelties  and  Atrocities — 
Number  of  Martyrs — Abdication  of  Diocletian  and  Maximian — 
Fate  of  the  Persecutors — Severus — Galerius — Edict  of  Toleration — 
Maximin — Edict  of  Restitution — Maxentius — Maximian — Diocle- 
tian and  his  Family.  \^Notes.  2.  Lactantius — 5.  Hierocles — 25. 
Diocletian’s  Madness] 33^-354 

X. — Victory  of  Constantine  : — Boldness  of  Constantine’s  Decision — 
Causes  of  his  Conversion — His  Vision — Trophy  of  the  Cross  in 
Rome — Real  Nature  of  the  Victory — Signs  of  a new  Era — Licinius 
and  Constantine — Edict  from  Milan — War  between  the  two  Em- 


XXVI 


Contents. 


perors — Persecution  recommended—  Second  War  — Constantine 
sole  Emperor — His  Character  and  Nature  of  his  Faith — Type  of 
a new  Age  of  Christianity.  \Notes.  3.  Constantine’s  Vision — 6. 
Eusebius] 354-364 


BOOK  IV. 

I. — Arius  and  his  Doctrine  : — Arius  and  Alexander — Arian  Tenets — 
Cautious  Statements — Arian  Logic — The  idea  of  Time  introduced 
into  the  Godhead — False  Theories  in  the  Church  attacked  by 
Arius — Arian  principle  of  Interpretation — Its  Import — Arianism  an 
alien  Mind — Person  of  Arius — Opposite  views  of  his  Character — 
His  training  at  Antioch — His  Dogma  Platonic — Its  tendency 
heathen.  \^Notes.  6.  InsufEciency  of  Orthodox  terms — 10.  The 
Arian  Mind  Judaic — The  New  Platonic  Trinity  Arian,  not 
Catholic] 367-375 

II. — Arius,  Alexander,  and  Constantine  ; — Progress  of  the  Heresy — 
Sect  of  Colluthus — The  Deacon  Athanasius — Arius  condemned — 
Bishops  favorable  to  Arius — Letters  to  and  fro — Popular  excitement 
— The  Thalia  of  Arius — The  Emperor  interposes — His  Letter  on 
the  subject — He  sends  Hosius  as  a mediator — Result  of  his  Mis- 
sion— Arius  and  the  Emperor — The  new  Ordeal  for  the  Church. — 
\^Notes.  7.  Arian  boast  of  Superior  Intellect — ii.  Praises  of  Hosius 
12.  Baronius  makes  up  History] 376-382 

HI. — General  Council  of  Nic^a  : — Idea  of  a General  Council — The 
Synod  called — Nicsea — The  Three  Hundred  and  Eighteen — PapL 
nutius — Spyridion — Anti-Encratite  Spirit — Acesius  the  Novatian — 
Alexander  — Athanasius  — Marcellus  — Eusebius  of  Nicomedia 
Laymen  at  Nicsea  — Heathen  — a Philosopher  converted — Or- 
der of  business — Grievances  disposed  of — Arius  rejected  — 
Discussions  and  Debates — The  term  Consuhstantial — Begotten, 
not  made — Objections  answered — Spiritual  things  spiritually 
discerned  — Leading  debaters  — Secundus,  Theonas  and  Arius 
banished  — The  Paschal  question  settled — Novatians  and  Mele- 
tians  — Rights  of  Metropolitans — Canons  — Closing  Session  — 
Address  to  the  Emperor — Final  action — Banquet  in  the  Palace — 
The  Emperor  warns  the  Clergy  against  long  Sermons — Synodal 
Epistle.  \_Notes.  i.  Reason  is  the  Common  Sense  of  the  Church — 


Contents. 


xxvii 


3.  Allusions  of  the  318 — 4.  Clergy  and  their  Wives — 10.  Explana- 
tion of  Canon  VI. — ii.  Established  usage  the  basis  of  Canon  law 
— 12.  Who  presided  in  the  Council — 13.  Hosius  not  a legate  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome — 17.  Spurious  correspondence  asking  Papal  sanc- 
tion to  the  Act  of  the  Council] 3S2-393 

IV.  — Constantine  and  S.  Helena  : — State  of  feeling  in  Rome — Un- 

gracious reception  of  the  Emperor  there — Domestic  Tragedy — 
Crispus  and  Fausta — Death  of  Crispus — Death  of  Fausta — The 
Emperor  and  his  Mother — Building  of  New  Rome  — Grand 
Schemes — Distribution  of  the  Army — Peace  Policy — Attempts  at 
Reform — Church  and  State — Faults  of  Constantine — Pilgrimage  of 
S.  Helena — Her  Good  Works — The  Holy  Sepulchre — Its  Recovery 
— S.  Helena  4ies — Council  of  Jerusalem.  \^Notes,  3.  Heathen 
superstitions  of  Constantine — 7.  Saint- worship  explained  from 
Oriental  Civil  adulation — 13.  Invention  of  the  Cross] 394-401 

V,  — ^The  Eusebius  Faction,  and  Death  of  Arius  : — Eusebius  and 

Theognis  sent  into  Exile — Arians  recalled — Their  Confession  satis- 
factory to  the  Emperor — Athanasius  Bishop  of  Alexandria — Arius 
repelled  by  him — The  Eusebian  Policy — Eustathius  of  Antioch 
deposed — Schism  in  Antioch — Other  Victims — Charges  against 
Athanasius — Councils  of  Caesarea  and  Tyre — Charges  disproved — 
Council  at  Jerusalem — Arius  received  into  Communion,  Athanasius 
and  Marcellus  deposed — Athanasius  confronts  the  Emperor — New 
Accusation — Athanasius  exiled  to  Gaul — Arius  to  be  publicly 
received  in  Constantinople — Prayer  of  Alexander — Sudden  death 
of  Arius — Effect  of  it  on  the  People,  and  on  the  Emperor — He 
prepares  for  his  End — Flattery  rebuked — He  is  baptized — His 
Death  and  Funeral.  \^Notes.  5.  Gibbon,  Milman,  and  Athanasius 
on  the  death  of  Arius — 6.  Eusebius  on  the  Death  of  Constantine — 
7.  The  ‘‘  Superstition”  of  late  Baptism] 401-410 

VI. — CONSTANTIUS — Arian  Sects  AND  SYMBOLS  : — Aspect  of  the  Arian 
question — The  Church  the  refuge  of  Liberty — Confusion  of  things 
Sacred  and  Profane — The  Church  used  by  the  State — The  Arian 
Court  party — The  Church  a witness  against  Persecution — Five 
Divisions  of  the  Subject : — i.  E7nperors — Constantine  II. — Con- 
stans — Constantins — Eunuchs  of  the  Palace — ii.  Activity  of  the 
Eusebians — Weakness  of  Constantins  — hi.  Arian  Creeds  and 
Councils of  Antioch,  Sirmium,  and  Antioch  again — 


xxvm 


Contents. 


Dated  Creeds — Their  evasive  Character — iv.  Arian  Sects — The 
Semi-Arians — Their  Symbol — Cyril  of  Jerusalem — Homoeans  or 
Acacians — Anomoeans  or  Aetians — Eudoxius — Common  ground  of 
the  Arian  Sects.  [Azotes,  i.  Athanasius  on  Persecution — lo. 
liosius  signs  the  Creed  of  Sirmium] 410-418 

VIL — CONSTANTIUS — Arian  PERSECUTIONS: — V.  Arian  Persecutions — 
Council  at  Antioch  and  Second  Exile  of  Athanasius — Innumerable 
Exiles  in  Rome — Council  of  Sardica — Schism  begun  between  the 
East  and  West — Athanasius  restored  at  the  demand  of  Constans — 
His  triumphant  return — Sudden  change  on  the  death  of  Constans — 
Persecution  renewed — Paul  of  Constantinople  banished — Cruelties 
of  Macedonius — Persecution  extended  to  the  West — Councils  of 
Arles  and  Milan — S.  Hilary  of  Poitiers — The  Emperor  kills  by 
kindness — Fall  of  Liberius  of  Rome — Fall  of  Hosius — Athanasius 
forsaken — His  escape  from  seizure — His  Retreats  and  Activity — 
His  abode  among  the  Monks — Death  of  S.  Antony — Security  and 
Serenity  among  the  Monks^Misrule  in  Alexandria — George  of 
Cappadocia — Reign  of  Terror — Arian  Quarrels — Council  of  Ancyra 
— A General  Council  called  for — Meets  at  Ariminum  and  Seleucia — 
Homoean  Triumph — General  lapse  precedes  recovery — Arians  part 
in  two  directions — Revival  of  zeal  for  Orthodoxy — Death  of  Con- 
stantins. \_Notes,  I.  Julius  of  Rome  misunderstood  by  Socrates — 
14.  Story  of  Athanasius  attended  by  a beautiful  Virgin]...  418-430 

VIII. — Times  of  Julian  the  Apostate: — Change  from  Christianity  to 
Philosophy — Julian’s  early  training — Later  Studies — At  Athens,  with 
Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Basil — Mental  Conflict — Julian’s  new  Ideal 
— He  is  favored  by  Fortune — Becomes  sole  Emperor — Devotes  him- 
self to  a warfare  against  “ the  Galilaean  ” — Measures  of  Reform — 
Character  of  his  Court — Acts  of  Justice — Pretended  Toleration — 
Severities  against  Clergy  and  Laity — Mark  of  Arethusa — George 
the  Arian — The  Christians  of  Edessa — The  Emperor’s  Sneers — 
Athanasius  again  banished — The  Grove  of  Daphne  near  Antioch — 
Removal  of  the  Remains  of  S.  Babylas — The  Antiocheans  sing — 
Rage  and  Cruelty  of  Julian — Milder  Persecution — Idolatry  restored 
— The  Pagan  Priests  lukewarm — The  People  satirical — Julian’s  liter- 
ary efforts — Cause  of  his  Failure — Attempt  to  restore  Judaism — 
Rebuilding  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  begun — Its  wonderful  defeat 
— Invasion  of  Persia — Death  of  Julian — Prophecies  going  before  it 
— Their  meaning — Jovian  Emperor — Valentinian,  Valens.  \^Notes, 


Contents. 


XXIX 


5.  Neo-Platonism  and  Julian— 9.  Julian’s  supernatural  powers— 25. 
Fiery  eruptions  in  the  temple  foundations  at  Jerusalem — 27.  Gibbon 
open  to  ridicule — 29.  Terminus  beginning  to  retire.] 431-443 

IX. — Times  of  Valens. — Sects  and  Schisms  : Prospects  of  Peace — Do- 
natists  in  North  Africa — Subdued — Restored  under  Julian — Their 
violence — Council  at  Alexandria  on  the  return  of  Athanasius — 
Schism  in  Antioch — Meletius  and  Paulinus — The  Luciferians 
— The  West  pacified — Movement  towards  Unity  in  the  East — 
Nicene  Creed  confessed — Valens  begins  a fresh  Arian  Persecu- 
tion— Athanasius  retires,  and  soon  returns — Cruelty  of  Valens — 
Heresies  from  the  Orthodox  side — Marcellus  and  Photinus — Apolli- 
naris — Minor  Arian  Sects — Aerius — Eunomius — Macedonius — The 
tenn  Hypostasis — Minor  Errors — Collyridians,  etc. — Manichaeans, 
Priscillianists,  in  the  West — Vagaries  without  number — Trials  of  the 
Times — Damasus,  Bishop  of  Rome — S.  Jerome — The  Schism  con- 
tinued in  Antioch — S.  Jerome  in  Rome — Ascetic  Doctrine — Death 
of  Blesilla  from  fasting — Jerome  obliged  to  leave  the  City.  \^Notes. 
3.  The  Circumcellions — 4.  The  Donatists  suffered  as  Evil-doers,  not 
as  Errorists — 10.  Meletius  really  Orthodox — 15.  Theodoras  consults 
Soothsayers — 18.  Photinus  and  Marcellus — 28.  S.  Epiphanius — 30. 
Election  of  Damasus,  Luxury  of  the  Bishops  of  Rome]...  444-453 

X. — S.  Basil  and  S.  Gregory: — Champions  of  the  Faith — S.  Basil  and 
Julian — Caesarea  punished — Exciting  election  of  a Bishop  at  Caesarea 
— Eusebius  chosen — Two  Parties — Basil’s  retreat — The  Charm  of 
Monastic  Life — Basil  made  Bishop — Popular  Distresses  in  Caesarea — 
S.  Basil  at  issue  with  Valens — Factious  Spirit  at  Caesarea — Murmurs 
and  false  Charges  against  Basil — He  is  plagued  by  the  Pride  of  the 
West — Gregory  Nazianzen,  Bishop  of  Sasima — He  retires  to 
Nazianzus — Athanasius  dies — Succeeded  by  an  Arian — Ambrose 
chosen  Bishop  of  Milan — Gratian  Emperor — Death  of  Valens  and 
Basil — Gregory  in  Constantinople — The  Anastasia — The  Revival 
of  Faith  and  Charity — Gregory  defends  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit — Theodosius  Emperor — Churches  restored  to  the  Orthodox. 
l^Notes.  4.  Nazianzen  on  Elections  of  Bishops — 7.  The  Elder 
Gregory — 12.  Humor  of  Gregory — 20.  Miraculous  power  dis- 
claimed]  454-462 

XI. — Theodosius  and  the  Second  General  Council  : — Theodosius 
Orthodox — His  zeal  confirmed  by  an  aged  Bishop — The  Council 


XXX 


Contents. 


of  Constantinople — Its  first  business — Maximus  the  Cynic — He 
deceives  Gregory — His  plot — His  enthroning  as  Bishop  of  Constant 
tinople — He  is  rejected  and  abandoned — The  Council  declares  him 
no  Bishop — Gregory  enthroned — Question  of  the  Schism  at  Antioch 
— Opposition  to  the  meddlesome  spirit  of  the  West — Flavian  elected- 
— Movement  in  the  Council  against  Gregory — He  resigns,  and  Nec- 
tarius  is  elected — The  Council  harmonized — The  Creed  completed 
and  settled — The  Canons — Synodical  Epistle — Dissatisfaction  of 
the  West — Final  approval  of  the  Council — Gregory’s  farewell  to 
Constantinople — He  lives  a Recluse  in  Nazianzus — Conference  of 
the  Sects — Heresies  forbidden  by  the  Emperor — Temporary  Con- 
fusion in  the  West — Growing  Power  of  the  Roman  See — First 
genuine  Decretal  Epistle.  \_Notes.  6.  How  Maximus  was  a Cynic 
— 9.  Maximus  dislikes  the  Tonsure — 10.  The  noble  speech  of 
Meletius — 12.  Private  Confession  abolished  under  Nectarius — 13. 
Gregory’s  saying  against  Councils — 14.  The  Nicaeno-Constanti- 
nopolitan  Creed  in  full — 18.  Gregory’s  Poetry — 19.  Gregory’s 
Silence] 463-472 

XII. — Missions. — Monasticism. — S.  Martin  : — The  Fourth  Century  polem- 
ical— The  troubled  Pool — Conversion  of  Iberia — The  King’s  prayer 
for  Light — The  Church  persecuted  in  Persia — India  or  Abyssinia — 
The  Goths  on  the  Danube — Bishop  Ulfilas — Conversion  of  the  Sar- 
acens— The  Seed  sowing  itself — Strength  of  Paganism  in  the  rural 
parts — Monachism — Its  economical  uses — Extraordinary  state  of 
Society — S.  Antony  in  the  Wilderness — Innumerable  other  Monks — 
The  Cenobium  — Anchorets,  Watchers,  Pillar-saints  — Married 
Monks — Monastic  Wisdom — Maxims — Monastic  Rules — A check 
upon  Enthusiasm — Special  Mission  of  the  Monks — Preaching — 
Valens  persecutes  the  Monks — S.  Basil’s  Rule — Early  prejudice 
against  Monachism  in  the  West — S.  Martin  of  Tours  founds  the 
first  Western  Monasteries — He  is  made  Bishop — His  Ascetic  life — 
His  field  of  labor  in  rural  parts — His  warfare  against  Superstition — 
Influence  over  the  Pagans — Churches  and  Monasteries  planted — 
Good  service  of  the  Monks — S.  Martin  forces  his  way  into  the 
Palace — His  goodness  of  Heart — He  pleads  hard  for  the  Priscillian- 
ists — He  holds  aloof  from  the  Persecutors — His  example  a Rule  of 
Mission  Work — Splendor  of  the  Church — The  print  of  the  Nails 
looked  for — Monks  the  Country  Missionaries.  ^^Notes,  8.  “ Eject- 
ment ” of  laborers  into  the  Vineyard — 9.  For  everrit  some  read 
evertit — 12.  Mental  state  of  the  early  Monks — 16.  Monks  preachers 


Contents. 


XXXI 


of  Moderation — 17.  Difference  between  Heathen  and  Christian 
Monachism  18.  A Monastery,  a Hospital — 19.  Monks  spoke  the 
Vernacular^  20.  Monachism  hated  in  the  African  Church — 21. 
Filth  cultivated — 24.  Miracles  of  S.  Martin — 25.  Wild  Dreams  of 
Monks — 27.  Plea  of  the  Bishops  who  persecuted  the  Priscillianists 
— 29.  Monachism  always  in  need  of  Reforms] 472—489 

XIII. — Church  and  State. — Ambrose  and  Theodosius: — Position  of 
the  Church  settled  by  Theodosius — Privileges,  Exemptions,  and 
Honors  under  previous  Emperors — The  Lord’s  Day — Heathen 
abuses  corrected — But  sacrifices  allowed — Dread  of  Atheism — 
Constantius  prohibited  Sacrifices  — Temples  destroyed — Magic 
rites  punished — The  Church  needing  to  be  restrained  by  Law  — 
Gratian  the  first  to  refuse  the  title  of  Pontiff — State  Encroachments — 
The  “ Episcopate  from  without  ” — The  Church  encroaching  in  civil 
matters — Effect  of  this  on  the  Roman  Laws — Conflicts  of  Church 
and  State— Ambrose  of  Milan — His  Studies — His  public  Life — His 
Influence — Hostility  of  Justina — How  the  See  of  Sirmium  was 
filled — Contest  with  Symmachus  against  restoring  the  Altar  of  Vic- 
tory— Pie  refuses  the  demand  of  the  Court  for  a Church  for  the 
Arians — The  contest  for  the  Basilicas — The  New  Basilica — Popular 
Excitement — The  Soldiers  submit — The  Psalm  for  the  Day — The 
Court  yields — The  Contest  renewed  the  next  year — Services  night 
and  day — Relics  of  the  Martyrs  Gervasius  and  Protasius — The 
Court  yields  again — Theodosius  in  Milan — Required  to  withdraw 
from  the  Sanctuary — Case  of  the  burned  Synagogue — The  Emperor 
yields — Outrage  at  Thessalonica — The  Emperor’s  Revenge,  and 
Massacre  in  Thessalonica — Letter  of  Ambrose — Penance  of  Theo- 
dosius— His  Restoration — Triumph  of  the  Church — Severe  edicts 
against  Idolatry — The  Serapeum — Rats — Rhetorical  avengers  of 
Paganism — The  Struggle  long  continued — Paganism  finally  con- 
quered towards  the  middle  of  the  sixth  Century.  \^Notes.  12.  Am- 
brose silences  an  Arian  virgin — 13.  Terminus  retreating — 22.  Soph- 
istry of  passion  in  Ambrose — 24.  Ambrose  familiar  with  the  doings 
in  the  Palace — 27.  Divine  honors  to  Theodosius  on  his  Death — 29. 
Shouting  at  the  Moon  during  an  Eclipse — 32.  Decrease  of  Conver- 
sions from  Paganism] 489-505 


xxxu 


Contents, 


BOOK  V. 

CHAPTER 

I. — Nestorius  and  S.  Cyril  : — Nestorius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople — 
His  Zeal  against  Heretics — His  denial  of  the  title  Theotokos — Pre- 
paring for  Battle — Cyril’s  Paschal  Epistle  on  the  Incarnation — 
Three  Sermons  of  Nestorius— His  Doctrine,  and  Evasions — General 
Excitement — Sermon  of  Proclus — Answers  of  Nestorius — S.  Cyril’s 
Early  Career — His  trying  Position — His  encroachment  on  the  Civil 
Power — His  excesses — Quarrel  with  Orestes — Hierax  tortured — 
Massacre  of  the  Christians — Expulsion  of  the  Jews — Efforts  for 
Peace — Orestes  refuses  Peace — Riot  of  the  Monks — Ammonius 
called  a Martyr — Hypatia — Suspicions  against  her — Barbarously 
murdered  by  the  Christians — Fourteen  years  of  Quiet — Character  of 
S.  Cyril — S.  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  his  Monitor — Cyril  and  Nestorius 
— Nestorius  and  Celestine — Letters  to  the  Roman  Church — Council 
in  Rome — John  of  Antioch  writes  to  Nestorius — The  Answer  of 
Nestorius,  full  of  Heresy  and  Pride — Cyril’s  Twelve  anathemas — 
Nestorius  rejoins  with  twelve  counter  Anathemas.  [^JVotes.  6. 
‘‘  Every  spirit  which  divide th  Jesus  Christ” — 7.  Logical  connection 
between  the  Nestorian  and  Pelegian  heresies. — 9.  Threefold  bias  of 
Socrates  against  Cyril — ii.  Terrific  Monks — 12.  Hypatia  unsexing 
herself  revoltingly — 13.  Parobolani — 16.  Milman’s  unfairness  to 
Cyril — 18.  Real  Meaning  of  the  word  Anathema — 19.  Transub- 
stantiation  unknown 509-522 

II,— Council  of  Ephesus. — Syrian  Christianity  : — Meeting  of  the 
Council — Debates  while  waiting  for  John  of  Antioch — The  Council 
opened,  in  spite  of  Protests  — Nestorius  condemned  — A Rival 
Council — The  Court  interferes — The  deposition  of  Nestorius  con- 
firmed— Cyril  and  John  reconciled — Theodoret  inclines  to  Nestorius 
— End  of  Nestorius — Spread  of  Nestorianism  in  Syria,  Persia,  and 
the  further  East — Peculiar  Views  of  those  called  Nestorians,  523-528 

III. — Eutyches  and  the  Council  of  Chalcedon; — Strife  between 
Dioscorus  and  Theodoret — Eutyches  questioned  at  Constantinople 
— He  asserts  only  One  Nature  in  Christ — Three  Forms  of  the 
Heresy — Eutyches  condemned — A new  Trial  ordered — Character 
of  Dioscorus — His  colleagues  in  the  Robber  Council — Eutyches 
cleared,  Flavianus  and  Eusebius  condemned — Flavianus  dies  of 
his  injuries — All  records  of  the  Robber  Council  destroyed — Mistake 
of  Dioscorus  as  to  the  strength  of  Party  Spirit — Leo  demands  a new 


Contents. 


XXXlll 


Council — The  Emperor  declines — Character  and  Reign  of  Theodo- 
sius II. — Pulcheria  educates  him — Monachism  luxuriant  in  the 
Palace — Pilgrimage  of  Eudocia  to  Jerusalem — Strange  forms  of 
Asceticism — Liberality  of  the  Empress  — Sensuous  enthusiasm  — 
The  Insane  not  shut  up  in  the  East — Relic  Worship — Marcian, 
Emperor — Meeting  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon — Number  and 
Order  of  the  Bishops — Officers  of  the  Empire  preside — First  busi- 
ness— Dioscorus  on  Trial — Dioscorus  and  his  Colleagues  con- 
demned— Dioscorus  contumacious — The  four  definitions  of  the 
four  General  Councils — Leo’s  famous  Letter  examined  carefully, 
and  accepted  on  its  Merits,  not  on  the  Authority  of  the  Roman 
See — Dioscorus  banished — Hard  case  of  his  Egyptian  Suffragans — 
A truce  allowed  them — Theodoret  called  up — He  attempts  to 
explain — A Hearing  repeatedly  denied  him — He  submits — The 
Canons — The  Canon  XXVHI.  opposed  by  Rome — Acquiesced  in 
at  last.  \_Notes,  7.  Beauty  of  the  Scenery  at  Chalcedon]  ..529-541 

IV. — The  Monophysites  : — Effect  of  the  Council — Accepted  by  the 
Greek  Intellect,  not  by  the  Oriental  Nationalities — Troubles  in 
Egypt — The  new  Patriarch  rejected — Timothy  the  Cat — Proterius 
murdered — Decline  of  the  Church  in  Egypt — Shadows  cast  before 
— Egyptian  Monachism  Coptic,  not  Greek — Conservative  Elements 
— The  Liturgies  in  the  Vernacular — Monophysite  Patriarchs  reside 
in  the  Thebais — Coptic  Christianity — Madness  of  the  People — 
Entire  Alienation — The  Saracens  preferred  to  the  Orthodox — Gen- 
eral falling  away — Similar  effects  in  Palestine — Difference  of  a 
Letter — The  real  quarrel  was  between  Greek  sway  and  Nativism — 
Barsumas  raging  in  Syria — ^Jacob  Baradai — General  Result — The 
Monophysite  the  same  in  principle  with  the  Nestorian  Heresy — 
Numberless  Monophysite  Sects  — Dioscorians  — Eutychians  and 
Dioscorians  anathematize  one  another  in  Syria — Policy  of  the  Em- 
• perors — Leo  proposes  to  ignore  Chalcedon — Zeno’s  Henotico7t — 

Schism  between  the  East  and  West  for  thirty- five  years — Anastasius 
punishes  both  those  who  accept  and  those  who  reject  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon — Riots  about  the  Trisagion  in  Constantinople — Anasta- 
sius resigns,  and  resumes,  the  Crown — Rebellion  of  Vitalian — 
Reconciliation  with  Rome,  and  establishment  of  the  Authority 
of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon.  \^Notes,  5.  Exaggeration  of  Relig- 
ious Riots — 7.  The  Liturgies  a Conservative  Element — 8.  S. 
Thomas  traditionally  the  Apostle  of  Syria  and  the  further  East, 
to  India] 541-550 


XXXIV 


Contents. 


V. — ^Justinian  and  the  Fifth  General  Council: — Justinian  a lay 
Pope  and  Persecutor — Theodora,  head  of  the  Opposition  party 
— Public  Works — S.  Sophia — Reform  of  the  Roman  Laws — Roman 
Popery  forced  to  yield  to  that  of  Constantinople — Tenets  of  Origen 
condemned — The  Three  Chapters — Pope  Vigilius  opposes  at  first, 
but  at  last  anathematizes  the  Three  Chapters — Fifth  General 
Council  meets  at  Constantinople — Constitutum  of  Vigilius  ignored 
— The  Three  Chapters  Condemned — Vigilius  confesses  that  he  was 
instigated  by  the  Devil — The  Monophysites  not  appeased — the 
Monks  of  Palestine  aggrieved — Schisms  in  the  West  for  a Century 
and  a half — Justinian  dies  a Heretic  at  last — Plis  successors  meddle 
little  with  Theology — Heraclius  recovers  the  Wood  of  the  True 
Cross — First  inroads  of  the  Saracens.  \^Notes.  i.  Public  and  Secret 
Histories  of  Procopius — 2.  Theodora  not  to  be  condemned  on  tlje 
lies  of  Procopius — 4.  A Monk’s  Dream  about  Justinian — 10.  Hon- 
esty and  Piety  of  Evagrius  the  Historian] 55o~555 

VI. — Monothelite  Heresy  and  the  Sixth  General  Council: — 
Edict  of  Heraclius  affirming  only  one  Will  in  Christ — Nature 
of  the  Heresy — The  last  Link  of  a long  Chain  of  Efforts — Four 
Patriarchs  deceived — Sophronius,  a Monk,  sounds  the  Alarm — 
Honorius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  commits  himself  to  the  Heresy — The 
Ecthesis  of  Heraclius — The  Typus  of  Constans  H. — Cruel  treat- 
ment of  Pope  Martin — Barbarity  towards  others  of  the  Orthodox — 
Saracen  conquests — Jerusalem  captured — Alexandria  taken — Con- 
stantinople saved  by  the  Greek  Fire — The  Saracens  do  homage  for 
their  possessions  in  Syria  and  Egypt — The  Sixth  General  Council 
meets  in  Constantinople — Failure  of  an  attempted  Miracle — Pope 
Honorius  anathematized — The  Council  affirms  two  Wills,  and  two 
Operations,  without  Division,  Change,  or  Confusion — TheTrullan  or 
Quinisext  Council — One  hundred  and  eleven  Canons — This  code 
of  Canons  not  accepted  in  the  West — Estrangement  between  East 
and  West  thereby  increased — Futile  attempt  to  condemn  the  Sixth 
General  Council — The  Monothelite  Heresy  lingered  among  the 
Maronites  of  the  Libanus — They  submit  to  Rome — The  Work 
accomplished  by  the  Age  of  the  General  Councils — The  Faith  kept. 
\_Notes,  3.  The  timeliness  of  great  discoveries  and  Inventions — 4. 
Vain  attempts  to  excuse  Pope  Honorius — 5.  The  Sneers  of  Gibbon 


and  others  in  reference  to  the  Historyof  Controversy]. 555~5^o 

Appendix y on  Pope  Honorius 561-564 

Index 5^5 


BOOK  I. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE, 

FROM 

JOHN  THE  BAPTIST 


THE  SECOND  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM, 


A.D.  30-135. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 


Book  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  ORGANIZATION. 


John  the 
Fore- 


The  history  of  the  Church,  being  an  account  of  the  earthly 
growth  or  manifestation  of  God’s  kingdom,  is  most  properly 
introduced  by  the  mission  of  John  the  Baptist,  the 
Forerunner  of  the  Messiah.  He  came  preaching  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  near  at  hand.  As  his  star  de- 
clined, the  theme  was  taken  up  by  One  mightier  than  he ; 
who,  proclaiming  the  same  tidings,  sent  forth  His  disciples  two 
by  two  before  His  face,  to  preach  to  the  Jews,  saying.  The 
kingdom  of  God  is  come  nigh  unto  you.  This  prophesying 
continued  to  the  close  of  the  earthly  ministry  of  our  Lord,  a 
period  of  about  three  years.* 

And  as  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  the  burden  of  all  preaching 
at  that  time,  so  it  was  the  object  of  universal  and  earnest  ex- 
pectation. The  Law  and  the  Prophets  continued  until  John  ; 

* According  to  Dr.  Jarvis,  the  Annunciation  took  place  in  March,  and  the 
Birth  of  our  Lord  on  December  25,  of  the  year  4707,  J.  P. ; He  began  His 
ministry  30  years  after,  January  6,  of  4738 ; He  was  crucified  on  March  26, 
rose  March  28,  and  ascended  May  6,  of  4741,  J.  P. ; there  being  33  years  and 
about  3 months  between  the  Birth  and  Crucifixion.  See  Chronological  Intro- 
duction to  the  Hist,  of  the  Church,  by  the  Rev.  S.  F.  Jarvis,  D.D.,  LL.D.  For 
dates  in  this  vol.  see  Riddle,  Ecc.  Chron. 


History  of  the  Church. 


Notes 
of  the 
Church. 


but  when  the  fulness  of  the  times  revealed  a higher  Dispen- 
Exfecta-  men,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  were 

^Kingdom^  pressing  towards  it.  Among  the  Jews  devout  men 
were  waiting  for  the  Kingdom. ^ Among  the  Gen- 
tiles, Poets  sang  of  Saturnian  rule : Philosophers  dreamed  of 
ideal  commonwealths.  Wise  men  from  the  East  came  with 
regal  gifts  to  the  cradle  of  the  Lord.  Rude  soldiers  from  the 
West  flocked  with  scribes  and  pharisees,  publicans  and  sinners, 
to  the  baptism  of  repentance  proclaimed  by  John  the  Baptist. 

Our  Lord  himself  preached  the  Kingdom  chiefly  under  the 
Parables,  form  of  similitudes  or  parables.  In  a series  of  simple 
pictures,  drawn  from  familiar  scenes  and  ordinary 
callings,  yet  so  nicely  delineated  that  every  stroke  and 
shade  has  a meaning  of  its  own.  He  left  an  inexhaustible 
treasure  of  the  notes, or  prominent  features  of  the  Church. 
The  promised  reign  was  to  be  earthly  in  its  position,  heavenly 
in  its  character  p it  was  to  be  established  everywhere  it  was 
to  embrace  the  common  social  mixture  of  good  and  evil  f it 
was  to  be  subject  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  natural  growth  and 
progress, 7 yet  to  vindicate  its  divine  origin  by  a wondrous  vital- 
ity,® and  power  of  persistence  and  endurance:^  in  short,  it  was 
to  be  visible  and  invisible,  present  and  future,  natural  and 
supernatural,  a mystery,  and  to  some  a stumbling-block, till 
its  complete  and  triumphant  manifestation  at  the  end  of  time. 
Our  Lord  taught  more  clearly,  that  the  Head  of  this  dispensa- 
tion was  to  be  absent  in  body,  though  present  in  Spirit ; and  in 
His  absence  its  affairs  were  to  be  administered  by  servants, 
having  all  a charge  in  common,  yet  each  with  his  own  share  of 
trust  and  responsibility.” 

^S.  Luke,  xvi.  i6. 

4S.  John,  xvii.  15,  16. 

^ S.  Matt.  xiii.  26. 

^ S.  Mark,  iv.  31,  32. 

S.  Matt.  xi.  6 ; S.  John,  xvii.  14. 

The  parable  of  the  pound  indicates  the  common  trust,  that  of  the 
talents  the  different  degrees  of  responsibility.  S.  Luke,  xix.  12-25  ; S.  Matt. 
XXV.  15. 


3 S.  Mark,  xv.  43. 
5 S.  Matt.  xiii.  33. 
7 S.  Mark,  iv.  27,  28. 
9 S.  Matt.  xvi.  18. 


The  Organizatio7i.  3 

The  works  of  Jesus,  also,  were  evidently  intended  to  be  sig- 
nificant of  the  reign  He  came  to  establish  among  men.  works  of 
They  were  ‘‘signs’^  of  the  kingdom:  parables  in  ac-  Jesus, 
tion.  To  the  inquiry  of  the  Baptist,  whether  the  promised 
One  had  come,  it  was  deemed  an  amply  sufficient  answer  that 
‘Hhe  lame  walked,  the  blind  saw,  the  deaf  heard,  lepers  were 
cleansed,  the  dead  were  raised,’^  and,  as  the  crowning  boon  of  all, 
that  the  poor  had  the  Gospel  preached  to  them.'^  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  show  here,  how  many  of  these  miracles  are  capable  of  a 
typical,  allegorical,  or  even  prophetic  application,  foreshadow- 
ing certain  features  of  the  history  of  the  Church.^^  Jt  is  enough 
to  notice,  in  general,  that  they  are  miracles  of  mercy  rather 
than  of  power ; and  in  reference  to  the  office  of  the  State,  or 
of  society,  are  of  a complementary , not  antagonistic  character. 
They  show  that  Christ  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  complete,  to 
fill  up.  His  kingdom  full  of  grace  and  truth  was  to  leaven 
all  other  kingdoms ; to  infuse  its  own  spirit  into  all  other  organ- 
izations; but,  in  the  meantime,  to  address  itself  to  objects  not 
contemplated  in  the  scheme  of  political  societies,  nor  indeed 
capable  of  being  profitably  undertaken  by  them.  Duty  to 
Caesar,  therefore,  can  never  interfere  with  duty  to  God.  Be- 
tween the  two  there  is  no  rivalry,  no  antagonism.  The  king- 
dom, though  in  the  world,  is  not  of  the  world. 

Such,  in  substance,  was  the  teaching  of  our  Lord,  both  in 

Matt.  xi.  3. 

*3  Thus,  the  two  fishing  scenes  (S.  Luke,  v.  6,  and  S.  John,  xxi.  ii),  the 
one  before  and  the  other  after  the  Resurrection,  the  one  with  a net  broken 
from  the  number  of  fishes,  the  other  with  the  net  unbroken,  became  symbols 
of  the  Church  militant  and  the  Church  triumphant : so  with  the  two  voyages 
of  our  Lord’s  Disciples,  which  gave  rise  to  that  beautiful  and  expressive  sym- 
bol of  the  heavenward-bound  ship : so  with  many  other  images  familiar  to 
readei*s  of  the  early  Church  fathers.  Strauss,  in  his  famous  Leben  fiesu,  sees 
only  this  typical  character  of  the  miracles,  and  therefore  treats  them  as  myths. 
The  early  Fathers  saw  the  same  doctrinal  and  prophetic  significance  of  the 
miracles,  but  were  only  the  more  convinced  thereby  that  they  were  facts, 
namely  divine  facts.  For  the  more  meaning  a fact  has  in  it,  the  more  divine 
it  is.  See  Olshausen’s  Com.  p.  356  (Am.  ed.). 


4 History  of  the  Church. 

His  words  and  works.  The  same  complementary  character 
distinguished  His  ethical  precepts,  and  discourses  to 
the  people.  Not  novelty  but  harmony,  completeness, 
and  above  all,  authority,  made  His  words  such  as 
never  man  spake.  As  the  great  seed-sower  of  the  kingdom.  He 
announced  principles  rather  than  dogmas  : principles,  which  are 
ever  budding  with  new  life,  whose  vitality  is  as  vigorous  and 
fresh  now,  as  when  it  first  awakened  the  dull  minds  of  the 
Disciples.  It  may  be  observed  further,  that  in  His  way  of 
announcing  these  principles  He  was  the  model  of  all  teachers. 
The  ancient  philosophers,  with  perhaps  one  exception,'^  had  in 
the  promulgation  of  high  truths  addressed  themselves  exclusively 
to  an  elevated  class.  They  had  affected  a knowledge  which 
could  be  communicated  only  to  the  initiated  few.  It  was  a 
peculiarity  of  our  Lord’s  instructions,  that  while  they  contained 
the  profoundest  truths,  they  were  couched  in  language  so  per- 
fect in  form,  so  beautiful,  so  simple,  so  catholic,  that  though  an 
angel  may  fail  to  penetrate  their  depth,  yet  a child  may  receive 
them  with  delight,  and  draw  instruction  from  them.  There 
was,  therefore,  no  need  of  the  ‘^reserve,”  or  disciplina  arcani^ 
affected  by  the  philosophers.  What  was  whispered  in  the  ear 
was  expressed  in  terms  which  could  equally  well  be  proclaimed 
from  the  house-top. 

But  as  our  Lord  preached  the  kingdom  He  proceeded 
Ministry  P^i^i  pcissu  to  prepare  and  organize  its  Ministry  ; 
organized.  foundation  ill  Himself,  as  Prophet,  Priest, 

and  King,  and  in  that  chosen  company  of  disciples,  His 
‘‘friends”  and  fellow-workers,  who  by  faith  and  a special  call- 
ing first  became  partakers  of  His  life-giving  nature.  Himself 
the  Rock  and  the  living  Stone,  He  made  living  stones  of  those 
whom  He  had  enabled  to  confess  Him."^  This  He  did,  how- 
ever, only  by  degrees,  and  in  proportion  as  the  character  of  His 
mission  was  gradually  unfolded. 

*4  Namely,  Socrates  ; who  was  much  ridiculed  by  the  polished  Athenians 
for  clothing  divine  philosophy  in  the  language  of  mechanics  and  shopkeepers. 

^sS.  Matthew,  xvi.  i8;  i Pet.  ii.  4,  5;  Ephes.  ii.  20;  Rev.  xxi.  14. 


5 


The  Organization. 

Baptized  in  the  Jordan  unto  the  baptism  of  John,  and  sealed 
by  the  Witness  and  the  Spirit  from  the  Father,  He  began  the 
prophetic  ministry  already  spoken  of  in  this  chapter.  Prophetic 
and  made  both  the  Twelve  and  the  Seventy  partakers 
of  the  same.  As  He  preached  the  coming  kingdom  and  wrought 
signs,''  He  sent  them  before  His  face  with  a like  message  and 
like  powers.  By  a wonderful  course  of  minute  teaching,  of 
which  the  substance  only  is  recorded  in  the  Gospels,*^  He 
trained  them  the  meanwhile  for  positions  of  higher  trust  after- 
wards to  be  given.  So  in  the  second  stage  of  His  ministerial 
work : when,  on  the  night  in  which  He  was  betrayed.  He  entered 
upon  the  exercise  of  His  priestly  office ^ offering  Himself 
a willing  offering  for  the  sin  of  the  whole  world.  He 
instituted  a solemn  memorial  of  His  death  and  sacrifice,  and 
commissioned  the  Apostles*^  to  continue  the  same  mystic  rite  in 
remembrance  of  Him.  So,  finally:  when  He  began 
to  enter  upon  His  reign^  having  risen  from  the  dead, 
a kingy  victorious  over  hell,  and  endued  with  all  power  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  He  gave  them  the  full  commission  so  often 
before  promised  sending  them  forth  as  the  Father  had  sent 
Him,  tcf  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  to  evangelize  and  bap- 
tize, to  minister  in  things  sacred,  to  bind  and  loose,  to  teach,  to 

John,  xxi.  25. 

*7  In  the  Christian  Church,  as  in  the  Jewish — (i  Pet.  ii.  5,  and  Exod.  xix. 
6) — the  kingly  and  priestly  character  belongs  to  all  believers,  all  being  par- 
takers of  Christ  the  Head.  But,  as  it  belongs  to  Christ  in  one  sense,  and  to 
His  people  in  another,  so  it  belongs  to  the  ministry  in  a third  sense.  It 
belongs  to  Christ  absolutely^  as  Head;  to  the  ministry  ministerially ^ as  repre- 
senting Christ  to  His  people ; and  to  His  people  derivatively^  as  His  body, 
representing  Him  to  the  world  at  large.  In  the  following  work,  however,  I 
use  the  terms  kingly,  priestly,  and  prophetic,”  in  their  larger  sense,  chiefly: 
as  indicating  respectively  the  ministry  of  government — of  rites ^ sacraments ^ 
etc.,  — and  of  that  otit-going  activity  in  works  of  mercy , with  preaching, 
teaching,  etc.,  which  is  preparatory  to  the  more  exact  training  in  the  Church. 

S.  Matt.  xvi.  17-19;  xix.  28;  S.  Mark,  i.  17.  In  such  passages 
there  is  a promise.  In  S.  Matt,  xxviii.  18,  etc.,  etc.,  there  is  the  actual  gift 
of  authority. 


6 History  of  the  Church. 

rule,  and,  in  short,  to  be  His  Apostles  or  Ambassadors  to  the 
end  of  time. 

To  this  He  added  final  and  particular  instructions ; fre- 
quently appearing  to  the  disciples  during  the  space  of  forty 
The^reat  Performing  miracles  profoundly  significant"^  of 

Forty  Days,  the  Spiritual  character  of  His  reign,  and  speaking  to 
them  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom. 

Having  thus  provided  for  the  earthly  future  of  His  kingdom, 
like  a prince,  who,  about  to  journey  into  a far  country,  commits  the 
management  of  his  estate  to  chosen  ministers  or  stewards,"”  He 
gave  His  parting  benediction  to  the  Disciples ; went  away  from 
TheAscen-  i ascended  triumphantly  into  heaven,  and  sat 
Sion,  down  in  His  proper  place  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

From  the  day  of  the  Ascension,  the  Disciples  waited  in 
TheDiscU  J^J^usalem,  for  ^^the  promise  of  the  Father:*’  that 
“power”  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  should  enable 
them  to  do  the  work  committed  to  them,  first  in  Jeru- 
salem and  Judaea,  then  in  Samaria,  and  finally  among  all  nations 
to  the  utmost  borders  of  the  earth. 

They  were  now  an  Ecclesiay  a spiritual  commonwealth  or 
The  Form-  society,  duly  called,  trained,  instructed,  and  com- 
^Qitckfn-  missioned  for  God’s  work;  but  it  remained  for  the 
Spirit  to  give  life  and  energy  to  their  ministry.  They 
were  a house  rightly  ordered,  with  the  candles  set  upon  candle- 
sticks, and  each  thing  in  its  place ; but  it  needed  a divine  Light 
to  light  the  candles,  that  the  order  of  the  house  might  be  made 
apparent.  They  were,  in  short,  an  organized  body,  fitly  joined 
and  compacted  ; but,  as  in  the  original  creation  God  first  formed 
man  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  then  breathed  into  his  nos- 
trils that  breath  of  life  by  which  man  became  a living  soul,  so, 

*9S.  Luke,  xxiv.  31;  S.  John,  xx.  19;  xxi.  i-ii. 

*0  S.  Matt.  XXV.  14. 

Ecclesia — concilium,  conciliabulum,  sy nodus,  collegium,  by  which 
names  it  was  often  called  in  early  times.  The  term  “kingdom”  applies  to  it 
only  as  complete  in  Christ  the  Head.  We  pray,  therefore,  “Thy  kingdom 
come.”  We  wait  for  “ His  appearing  and  His  Kingdom.” 


The  Pentecostal  Gift.  ^ 

in  the  mystical  Body  of  Christ,  the  framing  and  the  quickening 
were  kept  distinct  from  one  another.  The  Word  had  The  King 
fashioned  and  created,  the  Spirit  was  to  quicken.  The 
King  had  organized,  the  Paraclete  was  to  inspire,  and 
energize,  and  guide:  to  give  practical  efficiency  to  the  whole 
order  and  administration. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  the  Disciples  did  not  await  in 
idleness  the  advent  of  the  promised  Paraclete.  They  continued 
with  one  accord  in  prayer  and  supplication;  and  as  a breach 
had  been  made  in  their  body  by  the  apostasy  of  Judas,  they 
elected  one  of  their  number  to  fill  the  vacant  place.  Matthias 
Matthias  was  duly  chosen  by  the  action  of  the  Disci-  chosen, 
pies,  and  by  the  will  of  God.  He  took  the  Bishopric  of  Judas, 
and  was  numbered  among  the  twelve  Apostles. 


♦ 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PENTECOSTAL  GIFT. 

When  the  promised  Day  arrived,  it  found  the  Disciples, 
thus,  in  the  fulness  of  their  number  as  originally  called.  There 
were  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  names  enrolled,  z /• 
among  whom  were  the  Twelve,  and  probably  the 
Seventy,  all  belonging  to  that  devout  class  of  Jews 
who  are  described  as  waiting  for  the  Kingdom.  Besides  these 
there  were  possibly  as  many  as  five  hundred,*  male  and  female, 
who  were  included  under  the  general  name  of  Brethren.  Not 
this  larger  number,  however,  but  probably  only  the  smaller  one 
first  mentioned,  were  assembled  ‘‘in  one  place  ” on  the  Day  of 
Pentecost. 

At  the  same  time,  in  compliance  with  the  Law,  and  by  vir- 


8 


History  of  the  Church. 


tue  of  a long  course  of  providential  Preparation,®  there  was  a 
TheAs^  much  larger  concourse  of  devout  and  faithful  Jews, 
7/devfut  come  up  from  every  quarter  to  the  annual 

yews.  Feast  of  the  First  Fruits.  For  the  Israelites,  at  this 
time,  were  at  home  everywhere.  In  the  expressive  language  of 
the  Prophet,  they  were  ‘^sown**  anaong  the  nations;  they  were 
Prepara  upon  the  grass'*  of  heathen  society,  pre- 

UoH.  paring  the  field  for  the  sickle  of  the  Gospel  reapers. 
They  were  bearing  an  ecumenical  witness  to  the  unity  of  the 
Godhead.  It  was  as  representatives,  then,  of  a vast  system  of 
preparation,  that  these  devout  Jews,  the  Flower  of  the  Dis- 
persion, had  once  more  assembled  to  wait  upon  the  Lord,  and 
to  give  utterance  to  that  unceasing  prayer  of  the  Jewish  heart, 
“Lord,  wilt  Thou,  at  this  time,  restore  again  the  Kingdom  to 
Israel  ? * * 

The  congregation  of  the  Disciples  was  thus  in  the  midst  of 
the  Assembly  of  devout  Hebrews,  the  Dispersion,  the  Nations, 
as  the  “little  leaven  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal.**  It  re- 
quired but  a breath  from  on  high  to  enable  that  leaven  to  leaven 
the  whole  lump. 

How  that  Breath  came,  in  a way  as  beautifully  significant  as 
Descent  miraculous,  filling  the  whole  house  wherein  the 

Disciples  were  assembled,  and  what  was  the  imme- 
diate result,  is  familiar  to  every  reader  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles. 

It  is  sufficient  to  note  here,  that  though  three  thousand  souls 
were  forthwith  converted  to  the  Gospel,  and  though  every  day 


*The  Preparation  for  Christianity  is  the  history  of  Civilization  in  the 
ancient  world.  As  the  Law  was  a Pcedagogus  leading  men  to  Christ,  so,  also, 
says  S.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  was  the  philosophy  or  culture  of  the  Greeks. 
The  same  good  Providence  was  manifest  in  both.  On  this  subject  see  Bossu- 
et’s  Histoire  Universelky  Jarvis’s  Church  of  the  Redeemed^  and  Neander’s  In- 
troduction. This  last,  however,  is  a history  of  the  preparation  for  the  Gospel 
merely;  whereas  the  progress  of  civilization  among  the  ancients,  both  Jews  and 
Greeks,  prepared  the  way  equally  for  the  Gospel  and  the  Church.  Mosheim’s 
first  chapter  dwells  too  much  on  the  negative  preparation;  i,e.^  upon  the  fail- 
ure of  everything  that  preceded  Christianity. 


The  Pentecostal  Gift.  9 


afterwards  added  to  the  number,  the  Apostles  were  at  no  loss  in 
establishing  order  among  the  multitudes  who  thus 
eagerly  pressed  in.  The  divine  instructions  in  ^^the  given. 
things  pertaining  to  the  Kingdom,’*  recently  received,  had 
doubtless  prepared  them  for  so  great  an  emergency.  Accord- 
ingly, those  who  believed  were  baptized.  Upon  those  baptized, 
the  Apostles  laid  their  hands,  imparting  to  them  gifts,”  which, 
in  the  lack  of  a sufficient  number  of  duly  trained  Ministers,  seem 
to  have  fitted  the  whole  body  for  some  share  in  the  great  work, 
and  to  have  made  the  ministry,  for  a while,  almost  coextensive 
with  the  Church  itself. ^ At  all  events,  the  converts  freely  of- 
fered themselves,  and  all  they  had,  to  the  disposal  of  the 
Apostles. 

In  this  way  the  foundation  of  the  Church  was  laid  in  that 
race,  or  rather  in  that  blessed  and  covenanted  ^‘rem- 
nant,” to  which  it  had  been  originally  promised.  The 
chosen  people  continued  the  chosen  people  still.  Jews 
were  the  first  proclaimers  of  the  Gospel ; Jews  its  first  converts; 
the  first  demonstration  of  its  order,  as  of  its  power,  was  in  a 
community  exclusively  Judaic. 

And  the  application  of  this  principle  was  not  confined  to 
Jerusalem,  or  Palestine  only.  These  Pentecostal  con-  in  aii parts 
verts,  sojourners  as  many  of  them  were  in  far  distant 
lands,  could  hardly  have  failed,  after  a while,  to  return 
to  the  places  of  their  dispersion,  and  to  spread  the  glad  tidings 
of  what  they  had  seen  and  heard. ^ As  S.  Paul  testified  not 
many  years  after,^  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  went  out  into  all 


Judaic 

Founda^ 

tion. 


of  the 
World. 


3 The  “gifts”  were  given  ^^for  the  perfecting  fitting)  of  the  saints 
believers), (or  literally  into  or  unto')  work  of  ministry,”  etc.  Ephes. 
iv.  7-12.  The  word  “ ministry  ” I understand  in  its  larger  sense,  as  including 
all  kinds  of  service  to  the  Church. 

4 Among  the  first  preachers  mentioned  in  the  Acts  were  “Nicolas,  a 
proselyte  of  Antioch^'  “Ananias,”  a “disciple”  in  Damascus,  “men  of 
Cyprus  and  Cyrenef  and  Lucius,  of  Cyrene;  to  whom  may  be  added  Saul 
of  Tarsus,  and  Apollos  of  Alexandria.  Acts,  vi.  5 ; ix.  10;  xi.  20;  xiii. 
I,  etc. 

5 Rom.  X.  18. 


lO  History  of  the  Church. 

lands,  its  words  to  the  ends  of  the  world.  Through  Judaism,  as 
through  a vast  nervous  tissue,  the  notes  of  the  Pentecostal 
trumpet  were  indefinitely  prolonged.  Everywhere  Israelites  be- 
lieved, or  had  opportunity  to  believe.  Of  the  wide-spreading 
tree  of  Judaism,  therefore,  it  might  truly  be  said,  that  the  stock 
which  contained  the  faith,  not  merely  the  blood,  of  Abraham, 
was  renovated  and  saved  by  reception  of  the  Gospel : the  unbe- 
lieving branches  were  alone  cut  off.^ 


♦ 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  TWELVE  IN  JERUSALEM. 

The  Apostles  remained  in  Jerusalem,  for  a period,  it  is  sup- 
Tweive  posed, of  about  twelve  years;  making  frequent  excur- 
Ye<trs,  sions,  howevcr,  into  the  towns  of  Judaea,  Samaria, 
Galilee,  and  even,  it  may  have  been,  into  more  distant  regions. 

So  long  a residence  in  one  place  was  warranted  by  the  im- 
Tmportance  Jerusalem,  as  the  sacred  city  of  the 

Hebrews,  as  a point  of  universal  concourse,  and  as 
the  living  heart  of  orthodox  religion.*  From  such  a 
centre  it  was  easy  to  keep  an  eye  upon  all  other  quarters.  It 
was  the  place,  especially,  to  which  those  devout  men  resorted 
annually,  who  were  in  fit  preparation  for  the  Kingdom,  and 
Who  could  be  most  readily  converted,  not  into  believers  merely, 
but  into  Evangelists  and  Teachers  for  all  parts  of  the  world.  It 
was  the  most  proper  position,  in  short,  for ^ the  first  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Gospel,  both  in  its  power  and  in  its  order.  As  the 
proselytes,  gathered  everywhere  from  among  the  Jews  of  the 

®The  subject  of  the  Judaic  foundation  is  ably  brought  out  in  Thiersch’s 
History  of  the  Christian  Church,  translated  by  Thomas  Carlyle,  Esq. 

* See  Professor  Blunt’s  Lectures  on  the  Church  History  of  the  First 
Three  Centuries, 


The  Twelve  in  yerusalem. 


1 1 


Dispersion,  would  naturally  look  to  Zion  as  the  fountain-head 
of  the  true  Law,®  nothing  could  be  more  essential  outo/zion 
than  that  the  system  established  there  should  be  in  the  Law, 
every  way  perfect  and  complete.  The  Apostles,  therefore, 
were  not  unmindful  of  the  command  to  ‘‘go  forth  ''  and  “disci- 
ple'' all  the  nations.  They  made  Jerusalem  their  starting-point. 
They  concentrated  there  for  a while  that  outgoing  energy,  by 
which  the  world  was  to  be  converted.  For  the  further  stages  of 
their  mission,  they  waited  till  the  door  should  be  fairly  opened, 
or  till  the  Lord  Himself  should  give  them  the  expected  sign. 

The  Church  in  Jerusalem,  therefore,  was  the  object  of 
interest  for  a while  to  the  whole  company  of  the  Apostles. 
Under  their  care,  the  little  band  of  Pentecost  grew  into  a large 
and  thoroughly  disciplined  host.  Trained  already  to 
the  form  of  godliness  by  the  admirable  discipline  of 

^ 33* 

the  Synagogue  and  Temple,  the  Hebrew  converts  were 
moulded  with  little  effort  into  an  orderly,  regular,  self-sacrific- 
ing life.  The  doctrine  of  the  Apostles  was  their  rule  of  faith ; 
the  communion  of  the  Apostles  their  bond  of  fellowship.  To 
avoid  needless  separation  from  their  countrymen,  they  resorted 
for  “prayers"  to  the  Temple.  To  abstain  from  needless  of- 
fence, they  celebrated  the  “ breaking  of  bread,"  and  the  “ love- 
feast,"  in  houses  more  retired.  Giving  themselves  and  their  all 
to  the  common  cause,  with  a profound  conviction  that  the  work 
before  them  was  one  which  demanded  their  utmost  efforts,  they 
spontaneously  fell  into  a sort  of  camp-life  : a continu- 
ation,  as  it  were,  of  that  annual  exhibition  of  mutual  munist. 
support,  and  fraternal  equality,  which  the  Jews  were  accustomed 
to  afford  at  their  solemn  feasts.  For  it  was  not  the  least  of  the 
advantages  of  those  great  gatherings,  that  they  promoted,  for 
the  time  being  at  least,  a hospitality  which  made  “ all  things 
common."  They  were  seasons  at  which  the  rich  differed  from 
the  poor  chiefly  in  the  power  of  giving  and  entertaining.  The 
earliest  Jewish  Christian  Church  was  a prolongation,  as  it  were, 
of  one  of  these  happy  times.  It  was  a Pentecostal  week  ex- 


Mic.  iv.  2. 


12 


History  of  the  Church. 


tending  itself  into  a Pentecostal  life.  It  required,  of  course,  no 
little  sacrifice  of  domestic  comfort.  But  the  sacrifice  was  a 
spontaneous  and  free-will  offering.  It  was  accompanied,  there- 
fore, with  a gladness  and  singleness  of  heart,  which  distin- 
guished it  from  mere  communistic  or  monastic  schemes,  and 
commended  it  to  the  favor  of  all  classes  of  the  people. 

So  heavenly  a state  of  things  could  not  continue  long  un- 
Sinof  disturbed  in  any  community  of  men.  Ananias  and 
gapphira,  attempting  to  serve  two  masters,  introduced 
Sapphira.  infant  society  the  old  Jewish  leaven  of  secret 

mammon-worship.  It  was  the  sin  of  Achan : avarice  availing 
itself  of  things  devoted  to  the  Lord.  It  was  an  offence  that  lay 
at  the  door  of  the  Church's  progress : and  was  punished  by  the 
same  righteous  vengeance,  which  on  two  occasions  before  had 
armed  our  Lord  with  the  knotted  scourge,  and  which  we  find 
breaking  out  twice  afterwards  on  the  thresholds  respectively  of 
Samaritan  and  Gentile  Christianity. 

Differences,  also,  which  had  been  forgotten  in  the  first  glow 
of  charity,  began  to  be  felt  again,  and  the  peace  of  the 
Church  was  marred  by  frivolous  dissensions. 

The  Hellenist  converts  murmured  against  the  Hebrews,  be- 
cause, as  they  complained,  their  widows  were  neglected  in  the 
daily  ministration  of  the  bounties  of  the  Church.  In  such  cases 
Charity  is  obliged  to  call  in  system  to  her  aid.  To  do  justice 
to  any  ministration  there  must  be  special  ministers  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  The  Apostles,  therefore,  called  an  Assembly 
of  the  body  of  the  Disciples ; stated  the  incompatibility  of 
cares  of  this  kind  with  their  own  more  spiritual  duties;  and 
The  Seven  seven  men  to  be  chosen,  probably  from  among 

Deacons^  the  Hellenist  party,  whom  they  set  apart  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands  to  attend  to  such  matters  in  future.  The 
seven  thus  chosen  and  ordained,  are  the  first,  perhaps,^  who 
received  the  distinctive  title  of  Deacons. 


Dissen^ 

Hons, 


3 This,  and  other  matters  connected  with  the  Pentecostal  Church,  are 
amply  discussed  in  Mosheim’s  Commentaries^  and  Bishop  Hinds’s  History 
of  the  First  Century, 


The  Twelve  in  Jerusalem.  1 3 

A similar  necessity  for  orderly  distribution  of  ministerial  cares 
led  the  Apostles,  about  this  time,  according  to  Eusebius,  or  it 
may  have  been  a little  later,  to  place  James,  surnamed 
the  Just,  one  of  the  Lord^s  brethren,  in  special  over-  made 
sight  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem.  Though  the  Apos- 
tles remained  in  the  city,  or  thereabouts,  yet  their  attention 
soon  began  to  be  diverted  to  other  quarters.  Nothing  was  more 
natural,  then,  than  that  a responsibility,  which  devolving  upon 
all  alike  might  be  in  danger  of  being  neglected,  should  be  laid 
especially  upon  one  as  his  proper  and  peculiar  charge. 

It  is  still  a question  whether  this  James  is  the  same  as  the 
son  of  Alphaeus,  one  of  the  original  Twelve,  or  is 
to  be  numbered  rather  with  Apostles  of  a somewhat 
later  calling.  If  one  of  the  Twelve,  his  oversight  of 
the  Church  in  Jerusalem  is  the  first  instance  of  one  of  their 
number  confined  to  a local  jurisdiction.  Whether  one  of  them 
or  not,  he  was  at  all  events  a colleague  of  the  Apostles,  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality  with  them ; and  was  treated  on  all 
occasions  of  Apostolic  conference,  as  one  of  the  ‘^pillars,’’  or 
as  the  word  in  its  connection  seems  to  imply,  one  of  the  origi- 
nal pillars,  of  the  Church.^ 

This  settlement  of  the  government  in  Jerusalem,  under  one 
responsible  head,  may  have  been  hastened  by  a series  of  events, 
which  followed  close  upon  the  appointment  of  the  Seven.  The 
increased  zeal  in  preaching,  and  the  growing  popularity  of  the 
Gospel,  awakened  the  spirit  of  persecution  among  the  ^ 
Sadducee  rulers.  Peter  and  John  were  seized  twice,  non, 
and  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives.  A more  furious  ’ * 
storm  was  excited  against  Stephen,  one  of  the  seven  deacons. 

^Acts,  XV.  13-22;  Gal.  ii.  9.  In  this  last  passage  James,  Cephas,  and 
John  give  to  Paul  and  Barnabas  ‘‘the  right  hand  of  fellowship,”  and  are 
spoken  of  as  Apostles  before  these  latter,  i.e.,  of  an  earlier  calling.  This 
seems  to  make  James  one  of  the  original  Twelve.  The  passages  alleged 
against  this  view  are  easily  interpreted  in  accordance  with  it.  My  own 
opinion  is  in  favor  of  the  identity  of  James  of  Jerusalem  with  James  the  son  of 
Alphaeus. 


H 


History  of  the  Church. 


By  the  election  of  these  officers,  the  Apostles  had  been  enabled 
to  give  themselves  more  fully  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word. 
Others,  who  had  the  gift  of  utterance,  followed  their  example. 
Multitudes  were  converted,  and  among-  them  a great  company  of 
Second  priests.  5 It  seemed  a second  Pentecost.  Old  things 
Pentecost,  rapidly  passing  away,  all  things  were  in  process 

of  renewal.  Conscious  of  the  progress  of  this  mighty  change, 
and  endowed  to  an  extraordinary  degree  with  prophetic  and 
evangelic  gifts,  Stephen  had  borne  a clear  witness  to  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  Mosaic  Law  in  Christ,  and  had  drawn  upon  himself 
the  special  indignation  of  the  more  zealous  pilgrims  and  so- 
journers. Being  brought  before  the  council,  he  bore  the  same 
Death  of  testimony  still.  He  was  cast  out  of  the  city  and 
Stephen,  stoncd  to  death ; but  the  mantle  of  his  martyr  spirit 
descended  invisibly  upon  a young  Benjamite  standing  by,  with 
more  than  a double  portion  of  his  power  and  boldness. 

The  death  of  Stephen  was  followed  by  a general  persecution. 

Saul,  who  knew  not  as  yet  his  own  higher  calling,  was 
o/tfir^^^  particularly  active  in  scattering  the  flock.  The  disper- 
Discifies.  ensued,  however,  only  disseminated  the  more 

widely  the  seeds  of  divine  truth,  and  opened  a way  for  the 
Gospel  among  distant  nations. 

Philip,  an  Evangelist  by  gift,  and  one  of  the  seven  Deacons 
Philip  the  ordination,  repaired  to  Samaria,  preached,  per- 
Deacon.  formed  miracles,  and  baptized  a great  number  of  the 
people.  Peter  and  John,  hearing  of  this  success,  came  down 
from  Jerusalem,  and  set  their  Apostolic  seal  to  the  work  of 
Philip.  They  laid  their  hands  on  the  converts,  and  gave  them 
Simon  miraculous  gifts.  Simon  Magus,  one  of  the  number. 
Magus,  coveted  this  Apostolic  power,  and  offered  money  for 
it.  Rejected  by  S.  Peter,  he  became  subsequently  an  apostate, 


5 The  first  allusion  to  Presbyters  or  Elders  in  the  Jerusalem  Church,  is 
in  Acts,  xi.  30.  As  there  is  every  probability  that  those  who  had  been  bred 
in  the  Judaic  ministry  became,  on  their  conversion,  ministers  in  the  Church, 
we  may  suppose  that  Presbyters  existed  from  the  time  of  this  conversion  of 
“the  great  company  of  Priests,”  if  not  earlier. 


The  Twelve  in  Jerusalem.  1 5 

and  is  known  in  history  as  the  leader  of  the  Gnostic  heresy. 
He  is  still  better  known  for  that  practical  heresy,  called  simony ^ 
which  has  ever  since  remained  a gall  of  bitterness,  and  a bond 
of  iniquity,**  in  so  many  portions  of  the  Church.  ^ 

From  Samaria,  Philip  repaired  to  the  desert  region  nuch  0/ 
toward  Gaza,  where  he  baptized  the  Eunuch  of  Queen 
Candace,  and  so  sent  a seed  of  light  to  the  distant  land  of 
Ethiopia. 

Other  disciples,  scattered  abroad  at  the  same  time,  were 
equally  successful.  Some  went  to  Damascus ; where  they  were 
hardly  more  than  settled,  when  they  learned  to  their  dismay  that 
their  most  eager  persecutor,  ‘^the  Benjamite  wolf,**  other 
was  on  his  way  to  the  city,  with  authority  from  the 
high-priest  to  carry  them  bound  to  Jerusalem.  They  soon 
learned  to  their  astonishment,  however,  that  the  wolf  had  been 
converted  into  a chosen  shepherd  of  the  flock.  Another  party 
repaired  to  Cyprus,  the  home  of  the  Levite  Barnabas,  soon 
to  be  reckoned  among  the  Apostles.  Others  fled  to  Phoenice ; 
and  at  length,  after  the  lapse  of  several  years,  the  door  to  the 
Gentiles  having  been  in  the  mean  time  opened  by  that  Apostle 
to  whom  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  had  been  promised,  another 
party  preached  with  great  success  to  the  Hellenic  population  of 
Antioch,  the  head  of  the  province  of  Syria,  and  in  fact  the  great 
metropolis  of  the  East. 

But  the  storm  which  was  thus  widely  scattering  the  seeds  of 
truth,  had  long  since  spent  its  fury  in  Jerusalem  itself.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  Pontius  Pilate  was 

Persecution 

deposed  from  the  government  of  Judaea ; Caiaphas  was 
ejected  from  the  high-pri?sthood ; and  in  the  sue-  ^ 
ceeding  reigns  of  the  Emperors  Caligula  and  Claudius,  Judaea 
and  Samaria  were  annexed  to  the  presidency  of  Syria,  and  all 
Palestine  came  under  the  rule  of  Herod  Agrippa.  These  events 
proved  favorable,  for  a while,  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  Chris- 
tians. The  Jews,  absorbed  in  troubles  of  their  own,  had  little 
time  for  persecution.  A great  calm  ensued.^  S.  Peter  availed 

^Jarvis,  Church  of  the  Redeemed^  Period  v.  ch.  vii. 


1 6 History  of  the  Church. 

himself  of  the  opportunity  to  exercise  both  his  episcopal  and 
^ Peter  evangcHc  calling;  visiting  the  churches  in  Judaea, 

visits  the  Galilee,  and  Samaria,  and  confirming  the  disciples 

Churches.  . • /•  i i 

in  the  unity  of  the  Faith.  * It  was  in  the  course  of 
these  visitations  that  Cornelius,  the  devout  Roman  Soldier, 
was  admitted  with  his  household  to  Baptism ; and  so  a founda- 
tion was  laid  for  a Gentile  Christian  Church  in  the  important 
city  of  Caesarea.^ 

Of  other  Apostles,  at  this  period,  there  is  no  express  record. 
The  other  presumed,  however,  that  most  of  them 

Apostles,  were  engaged  in  the  same  way  as  S.  Peter.  Within 
the  circle  of  Judaea,  and  Samaria,  and  Galilee,  there  was 
room  enough  for  them  all ; and  while  they  still  met  at  Jeru- 
salem, as  the  common  centre,  they  probably  saw  less  of  that 
city  every  year.  Before  they  departed  for  more  distant  fields, 
one  of  the  four  Gospels,  that  of  S.  Matthew,  had  been 
written.  Having  had  experience  of  the  wants  of  growing 
Churches,  they  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  parted  company 
without  some  mutual  understanding  as  to  creeds,  forms  of  wor- 
ship, rules  of  discipline,  and  the  like ; though  in  all  such  mat- 
ters the  mere  fact  that  they  had  been  trained  in  the  same  school, 
and  for  so  long  a period  associated  in  the  same  field  of  labor, 
would  be  enough,  independently  of  the  gift  of  inspiration,  to 
secure  a reasonable  degree  of  uniformity  in  their  preaching  and 
in  their  practice. 

And  it  is  for  this  reason,  probably,  that  in  the  inspired  nar- 
rative of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  we  have  only  one 
line  of  Apostolic  labor  followed  out  with  any  approach 
imi  e . minuteness.  Sacred  Htstory  is  averse  to  idle  repe- 
titions. Knowing  what  one  Apostle  did  under  any  given  cir- 
cumstances, we  have  a right  to  take  for  granted,  that  all  under 
like  circumstances  followed  much  the  same  course. 

From  the  time  of  the  conversion  of  the  Greeks  at  Antioch 
there  had  been  a lively  and  friendly  intercourse  between  the 

7 It  is  to  be  noted  here,  that  Jerusalem,  Samaria,  Caesarea,  were  the  heads 
respectively  of  the  Jewish,  Samaritan,  and  Gentile  populations  of  Palestine. 


Churches  of  the  Gentiles.  1 7 

Christians  of  that  city,  and  those  of  the  Mother  Church.  Bar- 
nabas had  been  sent  thither,  apparently  with  Apostolic  Mission 
powers  ; and  had  taken  with  him  Saul,  whom  he  found  Gentiul. 
in  Tarsus.  Quite  a company  of  Prophets  had  fol- 
lowed.  In  return,  the  Antiochean  Christians,  having  heard  of 
the  distress  of  their  brethren  in  Judaea  by  reason  of  a great 
dearth  which  prevailed  about  the  year  forty-three,  made  a col- 
lection for  their  relief,  and  sent  it  to  them  by  the  hand  of  Bar- 
nabas and  Saul.  About  the  same  time,  Herod  Agrippa,  the 
king  of  Palestine,  took  offence  at  certain  of  the  Church  lead- 
ers; put  James  the  Elder,  the  brother  of  John,  to  death;  and 
finding  this  course  to  be  popular  with  the  Jews,  cast  Peter  into 
prison.  There  were  thus  two  causes  at  work,  to  impel  the  Apos- 
tles forth  to  their  wider  field  of  labor.  There  was  persecution 
at  home,  and  an  open  door  abroad.  Such  circumstances  would 
naturally  be  regarded  as  an  indication  of  God’s  will.  Accord- 
ingly, Peter,  when  miraculously  released  from  his  imprisonment, 
went  down  to  Caesarea,  the  scene  of  the  earliest  success  among 
the  Gentiles,  and  there  for  a while  abode.  Not  very  long  after, 
Barnabas  and  Saul  were  sent  forth  from  Antioch  on  their  first 
missionary  journey.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  a 
similar  course  was  at  the  same  time  pursued  by  most,  if  not  all, 
of  the  Apostles. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CHURCHES  OF 'the  GENTILES — S.  PAUL. 

It  has  already  been  seen,  that  the  persecution  which  arose  about 
Stephen  caused  the  Gospel  to  flow  out  in  all  directions,  and  the 
wave  continuing  to  roll  on  long  after  the  storm  had 

1 111  1 1 The  Gospel 

ceased,  extended  at  length  as  far  as  the  great  metropolis  flows  out^ 
of  Syria,  and  resulted  in  the  establishment  there  of  a 
flourishing  congregation  of  Gentile  Christians.  In  the  same 


i8 


History  of  the  Church. 


way,  it  has  been  noticed  incidentally  that,  some  years  prior  to 
this  event,  the  door  had  been  opened  to  the  Gentiles,  in  a more 
formal  way,  by  the  ministry  of  S.  Peter,  in  the  case  of  the 
Roman  Centurion  Cornelius. 

With  this  first  example  of  Gentile  faith,  the  question  of 
immediate  admission  to  the  Church  by  Baptism,  or  of  a pre- 
Gentiies  probation  by  obedience  to  the  Law,  naturally 

admitted  camc  up  for  determination.  To  S.  Peter’s  mind  it 
was  made  clear  by  a special  revelation.  It  was  sym- 
bolically shown  him  that  God  had  cleansed  what  had  hitherto 
been  judged  unclean.  Humanity  in  its  varied  types  was  to  be 
regarded  henceforward  as  a new  creation ; a clean  and  docile 
flock,  let  down,  as  it  were,  out  of  Heaven,  and  conducted  by 
God’s  own  hand  to  the  door  of  the  Ark. 

This  pregnant  principle,  confirmed  by  the  outpouring  of 
Principle  miraculous  gifts  upon  Cornelius  and  his  house,  was 
admitted,  acknowledged  by  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  and  began 
to  be  generally  apprehended  as  a settled  rule. 

From  this  time. forward  also,  Caesarea,  the  home  of  the 
CcBsarea  Congregation  formed  by  the  household  of  Cornelius, 
Church.  became  a centre  and  Mother  Church  of  Gentile 
Christianity. 

The  preparation  of  heart  and  mind,  so  remarkably  shown 
in  this  instance,  was  doubtless  going  on  simultaneously  in  many 
other  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  In  Rome  itself 
there  were  Christians  at  a very  early  date ; and  it  is 
said  that  Simon  Peter  went  thither  just  after  the  bap- 
tism of  Cornelius.'  It  is  more  probable  that  the  tradition  is 
derived  from  a later  visit  of  the  Apostle,  or  from  attributing  to 
Peter  the  acts  of  some  other  of  the  many  Simons  who  were  then 
engaged  in  evangelic  labors.  In  parts  of  Egypt  also,  the  Gos- 


Gospel 
in  other 
places. 


* It  is  more  certain,  as  Dr.  Jarvis  shows,  that  the  Jews  who  had  been 
banished  from  Rome  under  Tiberius,  and  who  were  in  Jerusalem  on  the  Day 
of  Pentecost,  were,  about  this  time,  allowed  to  return  to  the  imperial  city. 
They,  doubtless,  carried  the  Gospel  with  them.  See  Church  of  the  Re- 
deemed^  Per.  V.  vii.  i. 


19 


Churches  of  the  Gentiles. 

pel  seems  to  have  been  proclaimed  long  before  the  arrival  of 
S.  Mark,  the  founder  of  Ihe  Church  in  that  country.  The  sect 
of  Therapeutse,"*  described  by  Philo  the  Jew,  has  the  appearance 
of  having  been  a sort  of  Jewish  Christian  Society.  Glimpses, 
in  short,  of  a preparatory  Pentecostal  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
followed  in  due  time  by  the  more  decisive  labors  of  Apostolic 
founders,  are  discernible  in  the  traditions,  or  in  the  customs,  of 
many  of  the  early  Churches. 

But  the  time  had  come  at  length  for  that  full  manifestation 
of  the  grace  of  God  to  the  Gentiles,  which,  as  destined  More 
to  take  root  in  the  richest  soil  of  our  humanity,  and  to  jftaniffla- 
bear  the  most  varied  and  abiding  fruits,  has  been  chosen 
by  inspiration  as  the  special  historic  theme  of  the  first  century. 

Saul  of  Tarsus, 3 the  flower  of  the  Jewish  schools,  a Roman 
by  civil  rights,  a Greek  in  versatility  and  force  of  mind,  had 
been  converted,  baptized,  and  set  apart  to  the  Apostolic  office, 
soon  after  the  martyrdom  of  S.  Stephen ; but  owing  to  the 
unripeness  of  the  times  for  his  peculiar  work,  had  been  obliged 
to  school  his  fiery  zeal  for  several  years  in  comparatively  obscure 
and  unimportant  fields  of  labor.  From  this  retirement  Barna- 
bas was  inspired  to  call  him  forth.  Being  himself  a man  of 
Prophetic  and  Apostolic  gifts,  and  being  sent  by  the  Mother 
Church  in  Jerusalem  to  build  up  the  Greek  congregation  in  the 
great  metropolis  of  Syria,  he  discerned  in  Saul  a suitable 

*The  fact,  that  these  “citizens  of  Heaven  upon  earth,”  as  they  called 
themselves,  had  some  peculiarities  not  wholly  Christian,  weighs  nothing 
against  the  theory  of  Eusebius  on  the  subject ; for  nothing  could  be  more 
natural  than  that  imperfect  imitations  of  the  Pentecostal  community  in  Jeru- 
salem should  spring  up  among  Jews  in  other  regions.  Apollos,  the  learned 
Alexandrian,  preached  the  Gospel,  not  only  before  he  was  baptized,  but  before 
he  was  more  than  partially  instructed.  Acts  xviii.  24-28  ; Euseb.  Ecdes. 
Hist.  ii.  17;  Philo  Judceus,  ii.  470,  Ed.  Mango  (vol.  iv.  p.  6,  Bohn’s  Ed.). 
With  this  compare  the  account  of  Christian  manners  in  the  Epistola  ad  Diog- 
netum^  an  extract  from  which  is  given  in  Schaft’s  History  of  the  Church, 
p.  146. 

sConybeare  and  Howson,  Life  and  Epistles  of  S.  Paul',  Paley,  Horce 
Paulince. 


20 


History  of  the  Church. 


Cyprus. 


partner  of  his  labors,  and  invited  him  accordingly  into  that 
noble  field. 

In  Antioch  the  two  labored  together  for  three  years  or  more. 
Multitudes  of  Greeks  were  converted.  A new  centre  and  mother 
In  Antioch  city  of  Religion  was  established.  And,  as  if  to  mark 
called  an  epoch  in  Church  History,  the  term  Nazarenes, 
A.D.  45.  ’ which  the  Jews  had  applied  to  the  followers  of  Jesus, 

began  to  be  replaced  by  the  more  honorable  title  of  Christians. 

About  the  year  forty-five,  just  after  a season  of  extraordinary 
The  two  fasting  and  prayer,  Antiochean  prophets  were  inspired 
^fnt%Uh  Holy  Ghost  to  ‘‘separate  Barnabas  and  Saul** 

A D.  45.  for  a mission  still  more  fruitful  and  extensive. 

Being  thus  sent  forth  by  the  Spirit,^  the  Apostles  repaired  to 
Seleucia,  thence  to  the  Island  of  Cyprus ; which  having  trav- 
ersed from  end  to  end,  preaching  in  all  the  synagogues 
of  the  Jews,  they  at  last  stood  in  the  presence  of  the 
Deputy,  or  Proconsul,  Sergius  Paulus. 

Here  occurred  the  third  of  those  great  “signs**  of  judg- 
ment, which  marked  the  initiative,  as  it  were,  of  the  three  main 
stages  of  the  Church’s  progress.  The  Gospel  had  been 
met  by  two  forms  of  hypocrisy  in  the  persons  of  Ana- 
nias the  Jew  and  Simon  Magus  the  Samaritan.  Now,  in  the 
person  of  Elymas,  or  Bar-Jesus,  it  is  encountered  by  the  Spirit 
of  negation  and  downright  contradiction.  The  crisis  was  one  of 
vast  importance.  Over  the  strong  and  skeptical  but  superstitious 
intellect  of  the  Roman  world.  Sorcery  now  wielded  the  sceptre 
which  had  long  since  fallen  from  the  palsied  hand  of  Religion. 
To  gain  a hearing  for  the  Gospel,  this  baleful  power  must  be 
confronted  and  disarmed.  The  contest  was  easily  decided. 
Elymas,  fit  type  of  godless  intellect,  was  blinded  for  a season ; 
and,  reduced  to  a childlike  condition,  had  to  look  around  for 


£lymas. 


4 Saul’s  ordination  was  by  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  himself:  Acts,  xxii. 
14,  15,  17-21 ; 2 Cor.  xii.  The  laying  on  of  hands,  in  Acts,  xiii.  1-4,  was, 
therefore,  not  an  ordination,  but  either  an  extraordinary  seal,  through  Prophets 
specially  inspired  for  the  occasion,  to  the  ordination  previously  given ; or,  as 
is  more  likely,  a mere  setting  apart  to  missionary  labor. 


21 


Churches  of  the  Gentiles, 

some  one  to  guide  him.  Sergius  Paulus  believed.  And  Saul, 
henceforward  called  Paul  in  memory,  it  is  supposed,  of  this 
great  victory,  departed  shortly  after  from  Paphos,  and  proceeded 
with  his  company  to  Perga  in  Parnphylia. 

Thence,  the  course  of  the  Apostles  may  be  briefly  described, 
as,  firsts  a journey  forward  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  baptize ; 
and  then  a return  on  the  same  line,  with  a careful 

Course 

visitation  of  all  the  evangelized  towns  and  cities,  to  o/the 

® . Apostles. 

confirm  the  disciples,  to  ordain  Presbyters ; in  short, 
to  organize  local  Churches — a work  uniformly  accompanied  by 
prayer  and  fasting.  To  account  for  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
establishment  of  local  ministries  was  accomplished,  we  must 
suppose  not  only  great  zeal  and  self-devotion  on  the  part  of  the 
new  converts,  but  a large  outpouring  of  supernatural  gifts.  In 
many  cases,  fit  men  were  pointed  out  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy. 
Timothy,  a young  convert,  thus  designated  by  prophecies  going 
before,^  was  selected  for  a higher  and  larger  ministry  in  the 
Church;  and  after  S.  Paul’s  next  visit  to  that  region,  accom- 
panied him  constantly  as  a chosen  disciple  and  companion. 

Having  returned  to  the  Hellenist  mother  city,  the  Apostles 
cheered  all  hearts  with  the  tidings  that  the  door  of  Return  to 
faith  had  been  effectually  opened  to  the  Gentile  world.  a.o.  48.' 
This  door,  however,  was  near  being  closed  again  by  the  perverse 
dogmatism  of  certain  Judaizing  Christians. 

It  was  the  same  question  that  had  already  been  settled  in  the 
case  of  Cornelius ; coming  up,  however,  in  a somewhat  modified 
shape.  Judaism  had  been  removed,  as  it  were,  from  the  vesti- 
bule of  the  Gospel : it  was  now  endeavoring  to  find 
itself  a place  in  the  very  sanctuary.  If  not  circum-  ^ifthe 
cised  k^ore  admission  to  God’s  grace,  should  not  the 
Gentiles  at  least  be  circumcised  after  ? Should  not  obedience 
to  the  Law  be  one  of  the  fruits  of  the  grace  vouchsafed  by  the 
Gospel  ? The  question  was  not  one  of  ceremonial  merely.  It 
involved  the  completeness  of  the  Church  in  Christ  the  Head. 
It  involved  by  implication  the  divinity  and  absolute  sovereignty 
s I Tim.  i.  18. 


22 


History  of  the  Church. 

of  Christ  the  Head.  To  put  the  Law  on  a level  with  Grace, 
would  be,  in  effect,  to  put  Moses  the  servant  on  a level  with 
Christ  the  Son.^  The  strong  bias  that  existed  in  the  Jewish  mind 
towards  this  form  of  heresy,  made  it  the  more  necessary  that 
the  real  position  of  the  Church  should  be  clearly  and  conclu- 
sively defined. 

The  question  was  finally  settled  in  a council  of  the  Apostles, 
with  the  Elders  and  Brethren  of  the  Mother  Church  in  Jeriisa- 
Settiedin  poiut  of  natural  law,  almost  forgotten  by  the 

heathen,  and  three  ancient  precepts^  of  the  Noachic 
iv.D.  50^7^52.  covenant,  were  reenacted.  Beyond  this,  no  legal  bur- 
den was  allowed  to  be  imposed  upon  Gentile  Christians.  It 
doubtless  added  weight  to  this  decree,  that  it  had  been  drawn 
up  by  James,  whose  name  had  been  unwarrantably  used  by  the 
Judaizers,  and  who  held  a high  place  in  the  Church  as  the  Bishop, 
or  Apostle,  of  the  Circumcision. 

By  this  important  act,  the  Church  was  absolved  from  the 
bands  of  the  Law,  and  Christianity  was  declared  complete  in 
The  Church  Salvation  was  a gift  intended  for  all  men.  It 

free,  giveii  freely  to  all  who  had  faith  to  receive  it. 

The  Law  could  add  nothing  to  it : the  absence  of  the  Law  could 
detract  nothing  from  it.  The  Tree  of  Life  had  taken  root  below 
the  crust  of  Judaism ; and  whatever  leaves  it  might  afterwards 
put  forth  in  the  shape  of  needful  forms,  or  canons,  would  draw 
their  nourishment,  not  from  any  national  or  sectional  source, 
but  as  it  were  from  the  Catholic  soil  of  redeemed  and  sanctified 
humanity. 

This  point  settled,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  could  proceed 
s.  PauVs  unembarrassed  in  his  mighty  labors.  The  course  pur- 
course,  sued  in  his  first  journey  he  continued,  so  far  as,^e  can 
learn,  to  the  end  of  his  life.  To  visit  the  Churches  already 

^Heb.  iii.  5,  6;  Col.  ii.  10. 

7 Acts,  XV.  29.  Whether  these  three  precepts  were  intended  to  be  per- 
manently binding  may  be  doubted  : that  they  were  not  rigidly  enforced,  is 
certain,  from  Rom.  xiv.  14;  i Cor.  x.  25,  etc.  On  this  point  see  Hinds’s 
Hist,  of  Chr.  Ch.y  part  ii.  ch.  iv. 


Churches  of  the  Gentiles. 


23 


S,  PauVs 
second 
journey  : 
Corinth^ 
A.D.  50-53. 

Silas. 

Timothy. 


founded ; to  write,  or  send  messengers,  to  them ; to  add  new 
fields  of  labor  by  missionary  journeys  into  parts  unappropriated 
as  yet  by  other  Apostles;  to  repair  occasionally  to  Jerusalem,  or 
Antioch,  on  errands  of  charity,  friendship,  or  devotion;  and, 
finally,  to  concentrate  his  efforts  by  residences  of  two  or  three 
years  in  the  great  world-centres,  the  ganglions,  as  it  were,  of  the 
social  system ; these,  with  sufferings,  toils,  successes,  unparal- 
leled in  the  history  of  human  labor,  are  the  sum  of  that  wonder- 
ful life,  so  simply  and  yet  so  graphically  portrayed  in  the  living 
narrative  of  the  Acts. 

In  the  Apostle’s  second  journey,  the  design  of  which  was  to 
visit  the  brethren  in  every  city  where  he  had  preached 
the  word  of  God,”  having  separated  from  Barnabas  on 
account  of  a dissension  with  regard  to  Mark,  he  took 
Silas  with  him,  and  went  through  Syria  and  Cilicia, 
confirming  the  Churches.  At  Lystra  he  added  Timothy 
to  his  company.  Thence  passing  through  Phrygia  and  Galatia, 
he  naturally  looked  towards  Ephesus,  the  great  and  enlightened 
centre  of  Asia  Proper.  But,  diverted  from  that  field  by  a special 
admonition  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  crossed  over  to  Macedonia ; 
preached  the  Gospel  in  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  and  other  chief 
cities ; left  Timothy  and  Silas  to  go  on  with  the  work ; spent  a 
short  time  in  Athens ; and  finally  took  up  his  abode  in 
Corinth,  and  made  of  it  another  great  centre  of  Chris- 
tian influence.  There  S.  Paul  remained,  pouring  out  his  whole 
heart  to  the  most  eager,  susceptible,  and  inquisitive  of  all  people, 
for  more  than  eighteen  months.  From  that  conspicuous  and 
cosmopolitan  position,  he  kept  an  eye  upon  the  Churches  which 
he  and  his  companions  had  established  in  Macedonia,  Achaia, 
and  th^)arts  adjacent.  Here,  also,  he  began  another  fruitful 
branch  of  his  labors,  by  writing  two  Epistles  to  the  brethren  in 
Thessalonica. 

After  a visit  of  devotion  to  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  he 
began  his  third  journey  by  revisiting  the  Churches  of  Ephesus., 
Galatia  and  Phrygia  in  order,  and  confirming  the  Dis- 
ciples.  Then  proceeding  to  Ephesus,  another  of  those  places 


Corinth, 


24 


History  of  the  Church. 

where  all  tides  met,  he  spread  his  nets  there  for  three  years  or 
more,  drawing  within  the  circle  of  his  influence  all  the  chief 
towns  of  Asia  Proper.  This  city  was  a great  resort  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  diabolical  arts.  In  combating  these  forms  of  spirit- 
ual wickedness  in  high  places,'^  the  Apostle  seems  to  have  drawn 
more  largely  upon  supernatural  resources,  than  in  any  other 
field  of  his  labors.  Driven  at  length  from  Ephesus,  he  made  an 
extensive  visitation  of  the  Churches  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia. 
Towards  a mysterious  impulse  from  the  Spirit  turned  his 

Jerusalem.  more  towards  Jerusalem,  with  an  expectation 

of  finding  a way  opened  thence  to  Spain,  through  Italy  and 
Rome ; to  the  Christians  of  which  latter  city  he  wrote  the  most 
elaborate  of  his  Epistles.®  On  his  way  he  touched  at  many 
places ; among  others  at  Miletus,  where  he  met  the  Ephesian 
pastors,  and  gave  them  a solemn  charge.  At  every  place  where 
he  touched,  he  received  new  warnings  of  the  bonds  and  afflic- 
tions that  awaited  him  in  Jerusalem. 

Having  arrived  at  the  Jewish  capital,  he  was  received  with 
great  kindness  by  James,  and  found  the  Church  there  in  a 
highly  flourishing  condition.  But  a sedition  was  stirred  up 
against  him  among  the  fanatical  Jews.  Rescued  from  their 
violence  by  the  Roman  officers,  he  spent  two  years  a prisoner 
CcEsarea,  Csesarea ; whence,  having  appealed  to  Caesar,  he 
A.D.  58-60.  finally  sent  to  Rome,  ‘^an  ambassador  in  bonds. 
In  this  greatest  of  world-centres,  which  had  been  for  a long 
time  the  goal  of  his  earnest  aspirations,  he  taught  with 
A.D.  60-63.  freedom  for  two  years  or  more,  seeing  the  little 

flock  grow  into  ‘‘a  great  multitude,’^  as  the  heathen  historian^ 
implies,  and  maintaining  a constant  communication,  by  letter"® 
and  by  Apostolic  messengers,  with  the  Churches  of  the^st  field 
in  which  he  and  his  companions  had  labored.  For  it  is  to  be 
observed,  that  S.  Pauks  ‘‘company’^  had  received  continual 
accessions;  and  where  he  could  not  be  present  in  person  to 

s During  this  period  were  written  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians^  the 
Galatians^  the  Romans.  9Taciti,  Annal.  xv.  44. 

*0  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Philemon,  Hebrews,  Colossians. 


Churches  of  ihe  Gentiles.  25 

superintend  the  Churches,  he  had  reliable  men  at  hand  whom 
he  could  send  in  his  place. 

That  the  hope  so  confidently  expressed  in  the  Epistles  to 
Philemon  and  the  Hebrews”  was  in  due  time  fulfilled ; that  the 
Apostle,  set  at  liberty,  revisited  once  more  the  field  of  his 
mighty  labors,  making  permanent  provision  for  the  supreme 
government  of  the  Churches;  and  that,  fired  with  his  old  mis- 
sionary zeal,  he  set  his  face  towards  the  remote  West,  spain^ 
visiting  Spain'^*  as  he  had  long  intended,  and,  as  tradi- 
tion  says,  Gaul  and  the  British  Isles ; all  this  has  been 
commonly  believed,  in  the  Church,  and  harmonizes  entirely  with 
the  few  intimations  that  can  be  gathered  from  the  pages  of  Holy 
Writ. 

But,  in  the  meantime,  the  world,  governed  by  a mad  tyrant, 
was  falling  into  one  of  its  epidemics  of  periodical  frenzy. 
The  Jews,  at  no  time  remarkable  for  their  patience 
under  the  Roman  yoke,  had  been  galled  into  rebel-  General 
lion  ; the  heathen  were  in  a state  of  terrible  excite-  a.d.  64-67.’ 
ment ; and  the  hostility  to  the  Gospel,  which  had  never  more 
than  partially  relaxed,  and  which  caused  Christianity  to  be  every- 
where spoken  against,  had  been  fanned  into  a fierce  and  almost 
universal  hatred.  The  Christians  were  accused  of  the  most 
atrocious  crimes.  Their  religion  was  regarded  as  a baleful 
superstition.  The  tyrant  Nero,  strongly  suspected  of  having 
set  fire  to  Rome  for  his  private  entertainment,  determined  to 
divert  suspicion  from  himself  by  turning  its  full  force  against 
the  hated  sect.  The  usual  course,  in  such  cases,  was  to  extort 
confessions  by  the  rack.  At  first,  says  the  heathen 
historian, "3  ‘‘some  were  seized  who  plead  guilty;  after-  ^ ^ ^ 
wards,  ton  their  testimony,  a great  multitude  were  convicted,  not 

“Phil.  22;  Heb.  xiii.  19-23.  It  was  probably  after  his  release  that  he 
wrote  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  and  the  first  to  Timothy.  Neander,  Planting  of 
Christianity , iii.  10,  argues  ably  for  a second  imprisonment.  Dr.  Schaff, 
Apostolic  Churchy  makes  an  elaborate  argument  against  it,  but  in  his  later 
work  seems  to  admit  it  as  at  least  explaining  certain  difficulties  in  the  New 
Testament.  ^^Rom.  xv.  24-28.  ^3  Tacit.  Annal.  xv.  44. 


2 


26 


History  of  the  Church. 

of  incendiarism,  but  of  enmity  to  mankind.  To  tortures  mock- 
ery was  added.  The  victims  were  sewed  up  in  the  skins  of 
beasts,  thrown  to  dogs,  hung  on  crosses,  or  smeared  with 
pitch  and  set  on  fire,  to  light  the  streets  by  night.  Nero 
revelled  in  such  scenes ; and  as  he  opened  his  gardens  for  the 
hideous  entertainment,  looking  on  with  unrestrained  delight,  or 
drove  about  the  city  in  the  garb  of  a charioteer,  his  lineaments 
stamped  themselves  upon  the  Christian  mind  as  the  very  image 
of  Antichrist.  The  persecution  became  general,  and  raged  till 
the  death  of  Nero,  about  four  years.  The  Christians  of  that 
period,  however,  were  too  much  disturbed,  and  scattered,  and 
perhaps  too  confident  in  their  expectations  of  the  approaching 
end  of  all  things,  to  chronicle  their  own  sufferings.  Beyond 
the  brief  and  hostile  accounts  of  Tacitus,  no  unquestioned 
record  of  the  persecution  remains.  Its  horrors  are  to  be  inferred 
from  the  deep  tinge  they  left  upon  legendary  tradition. 

S.  Paul  returned  to  Rome  while  the  persecution  was  still 
raging,  probably  not  long  before  the  tyrant^ s death ; and  there, 
in  company  with  S.  Peter,  bore  his  last  witness  to  the 
Truth.  Being  a Roman  citizen,  he  was  put  to  death 
with  the  sword.  His  second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  writ- 
ten in  prison  when  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  be  offered,  and 
alluding  to  his  position,  though  without  a word  of  complaint 
against  the  monster  from  whose  cruelty  he  suffered,  has,  in  view 
of  the  evil  times  coming  upon  the  Church,  a tone  of  sadness  in 
it ; but,  with  regard  to  his  own  calling,  is  a wonderful  testimony 
to  posterity  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  last  trial  was  looked  for- 
ward to  and  encountered.  It  is  probable,  from  the  same  Epistle, 
Christians  Companions  were  not  equally  courageous. 

timid.  Christians,  as  a body,  had  little  of  that  spirk  which 
flies  into  the  face  of  death.  They  were,  in  fact,  a timid  flock. 
In  every  persecution  their  first  impulse  was  to  flee.  Equally 
removed  from  the  high -wrought  fanaticism  which  nerved  the 
Jews  of  that  period,  and  from  the  stoic  indifierence  which  made 
the  heathen  scoff  at  danger,  their  courage  was  merely  that  of  a 
good  conscience  and  good  hope ; and  when  taken  at  unawares 


27 


Position  of  S.  Paul  and  his  Company, 

was  often  found  deficient.  It  had  this  merit,  however,  that 
though  it  could  flee,  it  could  not  yield.  Simon  Peter,  it  is  said, 
showed  some  signs  of  his  original  infirmity  almost  to  the  last 
moment.  He  was  fleeing  from  Rome  when  the  Lord  met  him 
and  turned  him  back.  But  S.  Paul  was  naturally  of  a different 
temperament.  His  splendid  genius  was  sustained  by  a tense  and 
uncompromising  spirit,  ever  on  the  alert,  never  taken  at  fault, 
keen,  fiery,  and  almost  fierce  in  its  rapidity  of  movement,  which 
caused  the  name  of  the  Benjamite  wolf'^  to  cleave  to  him  in  a 
complimentary  sense,  when  in  some  respects  it  seemed  singularly 
inappropriate  to  his  character.  These  being  the  natural  traits 
of  the  Apostle,  the  quiet,  familiar,  almost  business-like  tone  of 
the  last  of  his  Epistles  is  the  more  remarkable. 


CHAPTER  V. 

POSITION  OF  S.  PAUL  AND  HIS  COMPANY. 

S.  Paul  thus  labored,  seemingly  a supernumerary,  one  last 
and  least, ‘‘born  out  of  due  time,”  and  “separate  from  his 
brethren”  of  the  original  Apostolic  College  : yet,  sur-  s,  Paul  the 
passing  them  all  in  the  variety^  extent,  and  success  of 
his  labors,  he  became  in  reality  “ the  fruitful  bough  ” 
of  the  Apostolate,  the  representative  of  the  Ministry  as  enlarged 
to  meet  the  wants  of  the  Gentile  Churches.  He  is  the  type  of 
that  second  Apostolate  that  sprang  up,  when  the  rod  of  the 

*4“  Benjamin  shall  ravin  as  a 'svolf,”  etc.,  Gen.  xlix.  27.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  the  phrase  was  always  understood  in  a good  sense ; for  to  the 
old  religious  mind  all  of  God’s  creatures  had  something  beautiful  and  good  in 
them,  and  the  serpent^  lion,  eagle,  wolf,  etc.,  were  as  often  symbols  of  good 
as  of  evil.  In  this  respect,  the  modern  mind  is  less  genial  than  the  ancient, 
more  apt  to  look  at  the  eagle’s  claws  than  at  his  heaven-piercing  eye. 


28 


History  of  the  Church. 

ministry  ‘^budded*’  with  new  life  : when  God  gave  the  word, 
and  a great  company  of  Preachers  went  forth  to  all  the  borders 
of  the  earth. 

When  our  Lord  chose  the  Twelve  from  among  those  disci- 
ples/* who  had  been  with  Him  in  His  ministry,  His  first  refer- 
ence would  seem  to  have  been  to  the  twelve  tribes,  and 
Foundation-  to  the  Theocracy  as  the  type  of  the  perpetual  Divine 
government  of  the  Church.  That  the  foundation 
might  be  laid  distinctly  in  that  people  with  which  the  everlast- 
ing covenant  had  been  made.  He  gave  the  first  formal  commis- 
sion to  Twelve,  and  Twelve  only.  Hence  the  solicitude  of  the 
Typical  Eleven  to  supply  the  place  of  Judas.*  For  the  sake  of 
consistency,  cousisteiicy  there  must  be  twelve  to  receive  the 

great  gift  of  the  Spirit.  In  the  new  Pentecost,  as  in  the  old,  the 
tribes  must  all  be  represented.  As  a four-squared  city,  with 
twelve  gates,  twelve  angels,  twelve  foundation-stones,  the  new 
Jerusalem  is  let  down  out  of  Heaven,  and  begins  to  shed  her 
light  upon  the  nations  of  them  that  are  saved. ^ 

But  the  historic  continuity  of  the  old  Church  and  new  being 
thus  most  fully  and  symmetrically  expressed,  in  the  organizing 
of  the  original  Apostolic  College,  in  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel for  so  many  years  to  the  Jews  almost  exclusively,  and  after- 
wards in  making  the  first  offer^  of  salvation  to  them  in  all  places 
The  Seventy  where  they  were  found,  there  was  no  longer  any  need 
^ih^supfr-  of  strict  adherence  to  the  typical  arrangement.  The 
structure,  fruitful  bough  was  to  run  over  the  wall  of  Judaic  con- 
cisionism.  The  ‘‘Twelve**  were  to  expand  into  the  “Sev- 
enty.**^ Accordingly,  as  soon  as  the  Church  had  found  an 

^ It  is  to  be  noticed  that  Judas  fell  before  the  Apostolic  commission  was 
formally  given.  He  was  never,  therefore,  an  Apostle  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
word. 

2 Rev.  xxi.  10-27. 

3 This  course  was  followed  even  by  the  “ Apostles  to  the  Gentiles.” 

+ This  number  naturally  leads  one  to  such  texts  as  Exod.  i.  5 ; xv.  27 ; 
Numb.  xi.  16;  xxiv.  25;  Ezek.  viii.  ii  : that  is,  to  the  Seventy  heads  of  fam- 
ilies, prophets,  elders,  who  were  called  to  participate  in  the  ministry  of  Moses. 
The  first  reference,  therefore,  of  the  Seventy,  as  of  the  J.Velve,  is  to  the 


29 


Position  of  S.  Paul  and  his  Company. 

open  door  for  its  larger  mission,  and  had  begun  to  go  forth 
beyond  the  bounds  of  Israel  proper,  the  number  of  Apostles 
was  indefinitely  increased. 

With  this  multiplication  of  the  chief  ministry  the  name  of 
S.  Paul  is  particularly  connected.  His  call  to  the  Apostolate 
synchronized  with  that  outgoing  of  Church  life  and  PauVs 
shedding  of  the  Spirit  upon  the  Gentiles,  that  second 
Pentecost,  as  it  were,  which  followed  the  martyrdom  of  S. 
Stephen  his  actual  commencement  of  mission  work  with  the 
gathering  of  a Hellenic  Church  in  Antioch,  and  with  the  de- 
parture, one  by  one,  of  the  Apostles  to  their  more  distant  fields. 
His  name  (with  that  of  Barnabas,  -and  many  others)  is  thus  asso- 
ciated with  the  outermost  of  the  three  great  circles  of  the  Apos- 
tolic mission.  With  Jerusalem,  Judaea,  Samaria,  he  had  little 
to  do.  His  witness  was  to  the  world.  Among  those  twelve 
names, which  S.  John  represents  as  written  on  the  ‘^twelve 
foundations*’  of  the  ‘‘great  city,”  his  name  is  not  included. 

Mosaic  dispensation.  But  behind  all  these  passages  there  are  the  Seventy 
fa7nilies  of  the  nations,  among  whom  the  whole  earth  was  divided  : Gen.  x. ; 
in  which  chapter,  again,  we  find  not  only  the  seventy  names,  representative 
of  the  nations,  but  twelve  particularly  distinguished  as  fathers  or  founders  ; 
so  that  in  the  twelve,  as  well  as  in  the  seventy,  there  seems  to  be  an  ultimate 
reference  to  the  Church  universal.  This  is  confirmed  by  Rev.  iv.  4,  where 
twenty-four  Elders  are  round  about  the  throne;  viz.,  twelve  for  the  Jewish 
and  twelve  for  the  Gentile  Church.  I may  here  observe,  that  when  numbers 
are  used  in  SS.  for  symbolic  purposes,  we  are  not  to  regard  them  always  as 
mathematically  correct.  Thus,  in  Matt.  i.  the  fourteen  generations  are  not  all 
the  generations  that  might  be  counted  in  the  period  given.  So  the  seventy 
and  the  twelve  were  not  all  the  Disciples  of  our  Lord;  for  in  Acts,  i.  15,  we 
find  the  number  of  the  names  to  be  about  one  hundred  and  twenty.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  list  of  names  in  Gen.  x.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  to 
me  that  in  choosing  twelve  and  seventy  under  the  general  name  of  Disciples, 
our  Lord  provided  for  a subsequent  enlargement  of  the  Apostolate,  and 
guarded  against  the  mistake  of  those  who  would  superstitiously  confine  the 
office  to  the  exact  number  of  twelve ; or,  who  would  make  any  other  distinc- 
tion than  that  of  mere  priority  of  commission,  between  the  original  Apostolic 
College  and  those  who  in  course  of  time  were  added  to  it. 

s This,  according  to  Dr.  Jarvis,  was  the  end  of  the  seventy  weeks  of 
Daniel.  See  Church  of  the  Redeeifted,  Period  V.  pp.  247,  497. 


30  History  of  the  Church. 

It  i§  of  great  importance,  therefore,  that  S.  Paul,  as  the  type 
of  the  enlarged  Apostolate,  was  in  point  of  commission,  of  au- 
thority, and  in  everything,  in  fact,  except  priority  of  calling. 
Equal  to  the  CQual  to  ‘‘them  which  were  Apostles  before’* 

Twelve.  • that  “the  uncircumcision  was  committed”  to 

him  as  largely  “as  the  circumcision  was  unto  Peter”;  that 
“James,  Cephas,  and  John,”  those  universally  acknowledged 
“pillars,”  perceived  the  grace  given  unto  him,  and  extended 
to  him  and  Barnabas  “the  right-hand  of  fellowship.”  The 
Ministry  to  the  Gentiles  was  thus  put  on  a footing  of  entire 
equality  with  the  original  Ministry  to  the  Jews.  The  branches 
grafted  into  the  old  stock  of  Israel  received  all  the  power  and 
virtue  of  the  stock  itself. 

Of  that  numerous  band  of  sons,  disciples,  colleagues,  or  fel- 
Companions  low-laborers,  who  accompanied  S.  Paul  in  his  travels, 
of  s.  Paul,  j some  of  whose  names  are  associated  with  his, 
apparently  on  equal  terms,  in  the  superscription  of  the  Epistles, 
Barnabas  parted  from  him  in  the  second  missionary  journey, 
and  taking  Mark  with  him,  labored  afterwards  in  Cy- 

Barnabas.  . ° 

prus,  his  native  country.  So  long  as  the  two  remained 
together,  Barnabas  held  the  position  of  leader;  so  that  the 
heathen  distinguished  them  respectively  as  Jupiter  and  Mercu- 
rius.  He  seems  to  have  been  a man  of  great  suavity  and  dig- 
nity of  character,  and  we  may  infer  from  his  conduct  with 
regard  to  Mark,  that  in  his  proper  sphere  as  a “son  of  consola- 
tion” he  showed  no  little  firmness.  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
that  all  the  intimates  of  S.  Paul,  so  far  as  we  have  the  means  of 
judging,  were  distinguished  by  traits  of  character  the  comple- 
mentary opposites  of  his  own. 

Timothy,  a disciple  or  son,  and,  as  he  appears  in  many 
places,  a colleague  of  S.  Paul,  had  a feminine  delicacy,  amount- 
ing it  would  seem  to  something  like  natural  timidity^ 

Timothy.  ^ , -r-.  i ^ -i  • i • 

of  character.  But  the  grace  of  God,  in  his  case  as  in 
that  of  other  Apostles,  proved  superior  to  any  such  infirmity ; 
and  S.  Paul  regarded  him  with  peculiar  and  tender  affection. 

® I Cor.  xvi.  lo ; 2 Tim.  i.  6-8. 


Position  of  S.  Paul  and  his  Company.  3 1 


Titus. 


During  the  lifetime  of  S.  Paul,  he  had  frequent  occasion  to  ex- 
ercise temporarily,  in  various  places  to  which  he  was  sent,  the 
gift  and  authority  of  an  Apostle. ^ After  his  death,  he  became, 
according  to  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  ancients,  the 
settled  Bishop  of  Ephesus  in  Asia  Minor ; a post  for  which 
his  gentleness  and  refinement  of  character  seem  emi- 
nently to  have  fitted  him.  Titus,  in  like  manner,  is 
said  to  have  become  the  permanent  chief-pastor  of  the  Church 
in  Crete.  Silas,  or  Silvanus,  and  Sosthenes  were  also  suas,  and 
reckoned  among  Apostles,  their  names,  like  that  of  others. 
Timothy,  being  associated  with  S.  PauPs  in  letters  to  the 
Churches ; but  of  their  position  in  later  times  there  is  no  cer- 
tain record.  The  same  remark  applies  to  Epaphras,  Epaphro- 
ditus,  Tychicus,  On^simus,  Carpus,  Erastus,  Crescens,  and 
many  others  to  whom  tradition  assigns  the  name  ‘‘Apostle  and 
Bishop,*'  and  sometimes  “Martyr."  But  tradition  is  a sieve, 
which  seldom  preserves  more  than  the  husks  of  a life.  The 
name  and  office,  and  sometimes  the  field  of  labor,  may  remain : 
the  deeds,  the  words,  the  finer  traits  of  character,  almost  inva- 
riably escape.^ 

S.  Luke  is  one  of  the  few  companions  of  S.  Paul  to  whom 
tradition  does  not  appear  to  have  assigned  a particular  local 
charge.  He  lived,  it  is  said,  to  a great  age.  He  was 
with  S.  Paul  in  his  last  imprisonment  j and  from  the 
peculiar  summary  of  trials  in  the  third  chapter  of  the  Second 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  as  compared  with  the  account  of  the  first 
missionary  journey  related  in  the  Acts,^  one  might  conjecture 
that  the  Apostle,  when  he  wrote,  had  been  quite  recently  en- 
gaged in  recounting  to  the  Evangelist  that  early  portion  of  his 
history.  Death  may  have  intervened  before  he  came  to  the 
period  of  his  more  recent  labors,  after  the  first  imprisonment  in 

7 Rom.  xvi.  21 ; 2 Cor.  i.  19;  Phil.  ii.  19;  i Thess.  hi.  2. 

2 Tillemont,  Memoires  pour  servir  a V Histoire  Ecclesiastique^  gives  with 
discrimination,  but  not  in  a skeptical  spirit,  all  that  is  known  on  this  and  sim- 
ilar subjects. 

9 Tim.  hi.  ii ; Acts,  xiv. 


S.  Luke. 


32 


History  of  the  Church. 

Rome  : and  as  S.  Luke  wrote  only  what  he  had  seen  himself,  or 
had  received  from  eye-witnesses,"®  the  abrupt  conclusion  of  the 
Acts  may  be  thus  accounted  for. 

John  Mark,  frequently  confounded  with  S.  Mark  the  Evan- 
gelist, was  probably  the  same  whom  S.  Paul  commends  to  the 
Colossians""  as  a nephew  of  S.  Barnabas:  who  was 

John  Mark.  ^ i i • 

With  the  same  Apostle  in  Rome,  during  his  first  im- 
prisonment, as  a fellow-laborer ; and  whose  services  he  particu- 
larly desired  at  a later  period.""'  If  so,  it  is  a pleasing  reflection 
that  the  young  man  who  abandoned  the  two  Apostles  in  their 
first  missionary  journey,  and  was  the  occasion  of  a fierce  con- 
tention in  the  second,  afterwards  was  enabled  so  amply  to 
redeem  his  character. 

These,  and  many  others,  some  of  whose  names  are  preserved 
only  in  obscure  traditions,  constituted  the  company  of  S.  Paul : 
his  Apostolic  staff,  as  it  were,  by  whose  active  cobperation,  as 
Apostles  or  Messengers  of  the  Churches,  he  was  en- 

Hts  Helpers  ^ ^ 

and  Suc~  abled  to  maintain  a constant  and  vigilant  superintend- 

cessors, 

ence  of  the  vast  and  growing  field  of  his  planting. 
Among  these  also  he  found  the  trustworthy  men  to  whom  he 
could  commit  the  whole  burden  of  his  own  ^^care  of  the 
Churches,'*  when  he  was  obliged  to  leave  it. 

^oLuke,  i.  2.  ” Coloss.  iv.  lo.  « Philem.  24;  2 Tim.  iv.  il. 


Mission  of  the  Twelve. 


33 


CHAPTER  VI, 


MISSION  OF  THE  TWELVE. — MADNESS  OF  JEWS  AND  HEATHEN. 


S.  A ndrevj^ 


Of  the  labors  of  the  Twelve  in  the  wider  field  of  their  mission, 
the  records  are  surprisingly  scant,  and  the  traditions  unsatisfac- 
tory. Three  only  of  their  number  received  surnames  The 
from  the  Lord ; and,  with  the  exception  of  these  three, 
their  names  are  written  only  on  the  Judaic  foundation-stones. 
Indeed,  one  of  this  smaller  number,  S.  James,  sur-  fames 
named  the  Greater,  the  elder  brother  of  S.  John,  was 
taken  to  his  rest  by  martyrdom*  before  the  Gentile  superstructure 
was  generally  begun. 

S.  Andrew,  the  first  called  of  the  Apostles,  in  whom  we 
recognize  the  amiable  traits  of  his  brother  Simon  without  the 
fervid  genius  of  that  great  Apostle,  is  said  to  have 
preached  in  Scythia  and  Sogdiana,  and  was  crucified  in 
Greece.  The  letter  describing  his  death,  professedly  written  by 
the  Presbyters  and  Deacons  of  Achaia,  is  either  spurious  or 
grossly  interpolated. 

The  name  of  S.  Thomas  is  associated  with  the  memory  of 
evangelical  labors  in  Parthia,  Persia,  and  India;  though  the 
application  of  the  last  of  these  names  is  somewhat 
doubtful.  S.  James  the  Less,  the  son  of  Alphaeus,  has 
been  commonly  identified  by  Latin  writers  with  James  the  Just, 
the  first  Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  If  not  thus  identified,  james 
it  is  quite  uncertain  where  he  labored.  S.  Jude,  sur- 
named  Thaddaeus,  or  Lebbaeus,  the  brother  of  James,  journeyed 
to  Lybia,  it  is  said,  and  preached  also  in  Arabia, 

Idumaea,  and  Mesopotamia.  He  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  another  Thaddaeus,  one  of  the  Seventy,  who  in 
* Acts,  xii.  2. 


S.  Jude. 


34 


History  of  the  Chui^ch, 

fulfilment  of  a promise  said  to  have  been  made  by  our  Lord  to 
Abgar,"*  King  of  Edessa,  went  as  Apostle  to  that  city,  and 
labored  there  with  great  honor  and  success.  S.  Philip, 
frequently  confounded  with  Philip,  one  of  the  seven 
Deacons,  preached  in  Scythia  and  Phrygia.  S.  Bartholomew 

„ went  to  Armenia  and  India:  S.  Matthew  and  S. 
thyornew,  Mattliias  to  Ethiopia : S.  Simon,  the  Chananite,  to 
Matthias,  some  part  of  Mesopotamia.  The  name  Simon,  how- 
ever,  was  so  common  among  the  Pentecostal  preachers, 
that  the  two  Apostles  so  named  had  many  things  accredited  to 
them  in  tradition  which  in  all  probability  belonged  to  other 
evangelists. 

It  has  been  generally  believed  that  the  majority  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and,  perhaps,  all  of  them  except  S.  John,  suffered  death  by 
Causes  of  martyrdom. ^ This  is  admitted  to  have  been  the  case 
opposition,  whose  history  is  best  known. 

One  thing  is  certain,  that  wherever  the  first  preachers  went  they 
carried  their  lives  in  their  hands.  Without  judging  harshly  of 
the  Roman  laws,  which,  considering  the  general  character  of  the 
superstitions  they  were  aimed  at,^  were  sufficiently  tolerant,  the 
Gospel  was  in  its  very  nature  a martyrhwi : a testimony  unto 
death,  before  magistrates,  kings,  and  nations,  against  all  that 
was  held  sacred  by  the  bulk  of  the  heathen  world.  Had  it  been 
content  to  take  a place  among  the  crowd  of  national  or  local 
superstitions,  it  would  probably  have  continued  unmolested. 
But  such  a position  was  against  its  very  nature.  It  came  before 
men  as  a novelty,  which  provoked  contempt ; it  was  uncompro- 
mising, which  awakened  hatred ; it  was  wonderfully  successful, 

* Euseb.  i.  13.  The  Letter  of  our  Lord,  preserved  in  the  archives  of 
Edessa,  is  supported  by  respectable  testimony,  but  does  not  look  genuine.  It 
may,  however,  have  been  a verbal  answer  from  our  Lord,  committed  to 
writing  from  memory  by  some  of  the  King’s  ministers.  See  also  Evagrius, 
Eccl.  Hist.  iv.  27. 

3 Mosheim’s  argument  to  the  contrary  is  founded  on  a very  partial  inter- 
pretation of  a passage  from  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  from  Polycrates  of 
Ephesus. 

4 Sacra  peregrina. 


35 


Mission  of  the  Twelve. 

which  touched  the  innumerable  nerves  of  self-interest,  local  or 
sect  pride,  prejudice,  superstition,  and  the  like,  which  lie  thick 
beneath  the  surface  of  civilized  society.  The  Jews  resented  it 
as  a heresy.  The  heathen  looked  upon  it  with  suspicion,  or 
contempt,  as  a corruption  of  Judaism.  To  men  of  the  world, 
generally,  its  condemnation  of  tolerated  sins  and  its  bold  pre- 
dictions of  righteous  judgment  would  present  themselves  in  the 
light  of  odium  generis  humani : a gloomy  antagonism  to  the 
reckless  and  jovial  spirit  of  cultivated  society. 

All  this  is  plain  enough  from  that  portion  of  Church  history 
recorded  in  the  Act^  of  the  Apostles.  In  those  simple  narra- 
tives we  see  the  rancor  of  the  Jews  awakened,  not  in  Accumuia^ 
Palestine  only,  but  in  every  place  of  their  dispersion, 
at  the  first  indications  of  prosperity  on  the  part  of  the  Gospel, 
kindling  into  more  furious  hostility  as  the  signs  of  success 
increased,  and  communicating  itself  like  a sort  of  contagious 
frenzy  to  the  better  disposed  Gentiles.  But  at  the  point  where 
the  inspired  history  ends,  the  state  of  the  world  is  growing 
worse  daily.  The  causes  of  persecution,  whether  in  the  Jewish 
or  heathen  world,  were  rapidly  accumulating  in  overwhelming 
force. 

From  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius  till  the  destruction 
of  the  Holy  City,  the  Jews  were  becoming  constantly  more 
entangled  in  seditions,  tumults,  plots,  and  insurrec-  Madness  of 
tionary  movements.  They  had  chosen  Barabbas  in- 
stead  of  Christ;  and  every  Barabbas  who  offered  himself  to 
them  was  hailed  as  a Messiah.  The  wanton  tyranny  of  Caligula 
exasperated  this  spirit,  by  placing  the  abomination  of  idols  in 
Jewish  houses  of  worship.  Hence  riots  and  massacres,  both 
in  Egypt  and  Palestine.^  The  reign  of  Claudius,  Caligula's 
successor,  was  marked  by  similar  commotions ; and  in  a dis- 
turbance that  took  place  in  Jerusalem,  during  the  week  of  the 
Passover,  more  than  twenty  thousand  persons  are  said 
to  have  been  slain,  or  trampled  to  death.  A famine 
of  several  years  added  to  the  sufferings  of  this  period.  When 
5 Philo  in  Flacc.f  etc. ; Joseph.  Aniiq,  xviii.  8. 


36 


History  of  the  Church. 


A.D.  65. 


Nero  came  to  the  throne,  the  sacred  city  and  the  whole  of  Pal- 
estine had  fallen  a prey  to  fanatical  sects ; and  robber  bands  and 
assassins  flourished  under  the  guise  of  patriotism  and  religion.  A 
glimpse  is  afforded  us  of  this  state  of  things,  and  of  its  effect  upon 
the  security  of  the  Christians,  in  the  account,  given  us  in  the 
Acts,  of  S.  Paul’s  eventful  visit  to  the  sacred  city  of  his  people. 
Not  long  after,  similar  tumults  arising,  James  of  Jerusalem  was 
put  to  death.  This,  again,  was  followed  soon  by  the 
commencement  of  the  Judaic  war ; in  consequence  of 
which,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Josephus,^  a fearful  com- 
motion seized  upon  the  populace  througTiout  all  Syria,  and 
everywhere  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities  destroyed  the  Jews 
without  mercy,  so  that  the  streets  were  strewn  with  unburied 
and  naked  corpses. 

It  was  a time,  in  fact,  of  universal  madness  and  misrule. 
Of  the  Nero’s  tyranny  was  succeeded  by  the  wilder,  and  still 
Heathen,  j^ore  bloody  anarchy  of  Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitellius. 
The  page  of  the  philosophic  historian  of  the  Romans  is  as  black 
as  that  of  the  learned  Jew,  with  the  tragic  record  of 
treasons,  plots,  conspiracies,  portents  in  the  natural 
and  civil  world,  horrible  massacres,  and  a recklessness  of  human 
life  passing  all  imagination.  In  Rome,  where  civil  war  was 
raging  from  street  to  street,  the  mob  looked  on  and  applauded, 
as  at  a gladiator  show.  ‘‘If  any  one  hid  in  a house  or  shop, 
they  shouted  to  the  soldiers  to  drag  him  out,  and  slay  him.” 
For,  as  the  historian^  fearfully  adds,  “ the  military  were  so  intent 
on  carnage,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  booty  fell  to  the  popu- 
lace. There  were  all  the  horrors  of  a city  taken  by 
storm,  with  all  the  merriment  and  licentiousness  of  the 
most  luxurious  times  of  peace : battles  and  piles  of  corpses ; 
eating-houses  and  baths ; soldiers  with  bloody  swords,  harlots  in 
flaunting  dresses : all  was  so  mixed  up,  that  it  would  be  difficult 
to  say  whether  the  city  was  in  a fury,  or  on  a frolic.”  Nor  did 
the  rural  districts  of  Italy  escape  the  com.mon  woe.  “Every- 


A.D.  68-70. 


Rome. 


Quoted  by  Euseb.  Eccl.  Hist.  ii.  26. 


7 Tacit.  Hist.  iii.  83. 


Mission  of  the  Twelve. 


37 


Italy. 


where  there  were  rapes,  robbery,  and  bloodshed ; citizens  dressed 
themselves  as  soldiers  to  assassinate  their  enemies ; the 
soldiers  seized  everything  they  could  lay  hands  on, 
without  rebuke  from  their  superiors.  Italy  was  not  merely 
exhausted,  it  was  fairly  trampled  into  ruin  by  the  wantonness 
of  foot  and  horse.’'®  To  add  to  the  terrors  of  the  times,  the 
popular  mind  was  haunted  with  prodigies  and  omens.  Prodigies 
^‘In  the  vestibule  of  the  Capitol,  Victory  dropped  her 
chariot-reins;  from  a cell  of  Juno’s  temple  there  came  forth  a 
gigantic  spectre ; on  a serene  and  cloudless  day,  the  statue  of 
the  Emperor  Julius  turned  round  and  faced  the  East ; an  ox  in 
Etruria  opened  its  mouth  and  spake.”  Such  stories,  little 
heeded  in  times  of  peace,  but  at  this  period  readily  believed 
and  circulated,  show  at  least  the  state  of  the  public  mind.  It 
was  more  remarkable,  that  real  disasters,  such  as  an  unprece- 
dented overflow  of  the  Tiber,  followed  by  a general  famine, 
made  less  impression  as  calamities  than  as  omens. ^ Every  afflic- 
tion cast  a shadow  still  blacker  than  itself. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  fearful  picture,  drawn  by  the 
Jewish  historian,  of  the  horrors,  portents,  and  calamities  of  his 
country,  may  be  taken  as  a sample  of  the  condition  of  General 
the  whole  world.  No  generation  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  was  more  fruitful  in  wickedness.  The  misfortunes 
of  the  Jews  were  such,  that  the  calamities  of  all  men  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world  would  be  found  slight  in  comparison 
with  them.”  It  was  Gessius  Florus,  appointed  Pro- 
curator in  the  tenth  year  of  Nero,  who  by  his  cruelty 
and  rapacity  provoked  them  to  rebellion  against  the  Roman 
arms.  The  heathen  of  the  various  cities  in  which  the  Jews 
dwelt  were  encouraged  to  insult  and  harass  them ; and  when 
outrages  of  this  kind  had  excited  them  to  insurrection,  they 
were  massacred  in  crowds,  without  pity  or  remorse.  In  this 
way  thousands  suffered  in  Ascalon,  Caesarea,  Ptolemais,  and  in 
the  cities  of  Syria  and  Egypt.  Cestius  Gallus,  the  governor  of 
Syria,  might  have  prevented  the  rebellion  by  measures  of  ordi- 
® Tacit.  Hist.  ii.  56.  9 Tacit.  Hist.  i.  86. 


Gessius 

Florus. 


38 


History  of  the  Church. 

nary  prudence  and  justice ; or  when  it  began  might  easily  have 
crushed  it  in  the  bud.  He  did  neither.  His  course  was  vigor- 
ous enough  to  increase  the  exasperation,  but  too  dilatory  to  lead 
to  any  result.  A feeble  Attempt  to  take  Jerusalem  was 
pffus^em,  followed  by  a precipitate  retreat,  which  degenerated 
A.D.  65.  ^ flight  and  a panic.  The  Jews  hung  upon  his 

rear,  slew  his  best  troops,  and,  elated  by  this  easy  triumph, 
carried  on  the  war  thenceforward  in  a spirit  of  desperation  that 
hardly  fell  short  of  madness.  For  seven  years  society  was  com- 
pletely disorganized.  It  was  a conflict  unillumined  by  a ray  of 
hope.  Suicide  was  preferred  to  submission  to  the  Romans. 
Yet  submission  to  the  Romans  was  felt  to  be  a far  less  evil  than 
the  triumph  of  the  robbers  and  assassins,  by  whom,  for  the  most 
part,  the  cause  of  rebellion  was  sustained.  In  short,  the  proph- 
ecy of  our  Lord  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter.*®  Things  came  to 
such  a pass  in  the  end,  that  unless  those  days  of  mutual  exter- 
mination had  been  mercifully  shortened,  no  flesh  would  have 
been  left  alive. 

That  terrible  period,  then,  which  is  best  described  as  the 
coming  of  our  Lord  in  judgment  upon  the  Jews — the  sixth  in 
The  LorcCs  Order  of  those  tremendous  epochs  which  prefigure  the 
coining.  flnal  Judgment” — was  a time  in  which  it  was  not  only 
natural  that  the  shepherds  of  the  Flock  should  be  smitten, 
but  equally  natural  that  the  Flock  should  be  too  much  dis- 

*0  S.  Matt.  xxiv.  22.  The  remarkable  coincidences,  between  the  proph- 
ecy of  our  Lord  and  the  language  of  Josephus  in  his  account  of  the  Judaic 
War,  are  well  pointed  out  in  “ the  Plain  Commentary  on  the  Four  Holy  Gos- 
pels.” 

In  the  xxivth  of  S.  Matthew,  etc.  The  Judgment  of  Jerusalem,  of 
Sodom,  of  the  Flood,  etc.,  all  lead  the  mind  forward  to  the  final  consumma- 
tion. The  six  judgments  are,  the  Expulsion  from  Paradise,  the  Flood,  the 
Destruction  of  Sodom,  the  Drowning  of  Pharaoh,  the  Ruin  of  Solomon’s 
Temple,  and  the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  Abrogation  of  the 
Jewish  Polity.  For  many  useful  suggestions  on  this  subject  see  Jarvis’s 
Church  of  the  Redeemed.  Dr.  Jarvis,  however,  divides  the  history  of.  the 
world  before  the  Christian  era  into  five  periods,  including  the  day  in  Paradise 
in  the  period  which  terminates  with  the  flood. 


The  yewish  Christian  Church.  39 

turbed  to  keep  a careful  record  of  the  calamitous  visitation. 
Christians  were  hated  by  the  Jews,  and  equally  hated  as  con- 
nected with  the  Jews.  They  were  a ready  and  safe  mark  for 
private  and  public  malice.  And  of  the  Roman  magistrates  in 
those  days,  while  some  might  temporize  like  Pilate,  some  like 
Gallio  might  behave  with  a disdainful  impartiality,  and  a few 
like  Pliny  might  feel  disposed  to  pity  the  oppressed : the  great 
majority,  no  doubt,  would  easily  give  way  to  the  outcry  of  the 
rabble.  In  the  confusion  that  thus  ensued,  we  can  find  the  only 
satisfactory  explanation  of  the  vagueness  of  Church  tradition, 
with  regard  to  the  latter  days  of  most  of  the  Apostles. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  JEWISH  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

Jerusalem  continued,  till  the  time  of  the  great  Judgment  upon 
that  city,  to  be  the  centre  of  Apostolic  conference  and  com- 
munion : the  centre  especially  of  that  Christian  Israel  _ 

Jerusalem 

‘‘scattered  abroad,  which,  though  absorbed  in  the  and  Chris^ 

r T 1 1 1 TT*  *1  • • iian  Israel, 

one  name  of  Judah,  was  the  Historical  continuation 

of  all  the  twelve  tribes,*  and  was  tolerated  in  the  observance  of 

Mosaic  rites. 

James,  the  universally  respected  head  of  this  great  stock, 
was  eminently  fitted  for  his  peculiar  and  difficult  position.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  consecrated  to  God  from  his  jamesthe 
birth,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  Nazarites,  and 
to  have  lived  the  life  of  a genuine  ascetic.  Foreseeing  the 
judgments  that  were  coming  on  his  guilty  nation,  and  wrestling 
continually  in  prayer  for  their  conversion,  he  acquired  among 


* James,  i.  i. 


40 


History  of  the  Church. 


them  the  title  of  Zaddick,  the  Just,  or  Ophlias,  the  Bulwark  of 
the  People.  His  appointment  to  the  Bishopric  of  Jerusalem  is 
attributed  by  some  to  our  Lord  himself.  It  is  certain  that  he 
was  admitted  to  the  honor  of  a special  interview  with  his  Mas- 
ter, after  the  Resurrection.^ 

As  head  of  the  Circumcision,  ‘^myriads  of  whom  had  been 
converted  before  the  last  visit  of  S.  Paul  to  Jerusalem,^ 

His  rela~  . . 

tions  to  he  was  naturally  exposed  to  the  temptation  of  forming 

a party,  or  separate  school,  in  the  Church.  There  is 
no  proof,  however,  that  he  yielded  to  this  temptation.  On  the 
contrary,  his  relations  to  the  Apostles  of  the  Gentiles  seem  ever 
to  have  been  of  the  most  friendly  kind.  S.  Paul  evidently  re- 
garded him  with  reverence  and  affection.  James,  in  his  turn, 
not  only  gave  to  Paul  and  Barnabas  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship, but  in  reference  to  the  questions  mooted  by  the  Judaizing 
faction,  expressed  himself  with  a firmness  and  decision^  not  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  great  Apostle  himself. 

And  towards  those  of  his  own  kin  who  had  not  as  yet  re- 
To  his  own  ceived  the  Gospel  he  acted,  there  is  reason  to  believe. 
People.  ^ charitable  and  Christian-like  forbear- 

ance. He  avoided  everything  calculated  to  excite  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Jews.  Those  who  visited  Jerusalem  from  among 
the  Gentile  Churches  were  required  to  observe  the  same  rule.® 

It  may  have  been  owing  to  this  habit  of  noble  as  well  as 
His  politic  forbearance,  that  the  Epistle  of  S.  James,  ad- 
Epistie.  dressed  as  it  is  to  the  twelve  tribes,  and  almost  ignor- 
ing the  difference  between  Jew  and  Christian,  is  so  extremely 
reserved  on  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  With  the 
Lord  nigh  at  hand,  with  the  Judge  standing  before  the  door,^ 
and  with  a profound  fellow-feeling  for  the  difficulties  and  per- 
plexities of  the  Jewish  mind,  the  earnest  and  sober-minded 
Pastor  may  have  felt  that  the  orthodoxy  needed  for  the  con- 
version of  his  countrymen  was  that  of  the  heart  and  life,  rather 


2 I Cor.  XV.  7.  3 Acts,  xxi.  20. 

5 Acts,  xxi.  17-26. 


4 Acts,  XV.  13-21. 
^ James,  v.  7-9. 


The  yewish  Christian  Church.  41 

than  of  the  head.  Of  faith/  in  the  form  of  dogmatism,  the 
Synagogue,  whether  Jewish  or  Jewish-Christian,  had 
enough  and  to  spare.  The  Name  of  Christ  might  heardht 
easily  become,  like  the  name  of  Moses,  a mere  symbol 
of  lip-worship,  a mere  rallying-cry  for  the  strife  of  tongues. 
In  the  bitterness  of  controversy,  that  worthy  name might 
possibly  be  taken  in  vain.^  Rather  than  incur  such  a risk,  let 
the  yea  of  faith  be  yea,  and  the  nay  simply  nay.  Christ  is  not 
confessed  by  vigorous  asseverations.  He  is  not  heard  in  strife. 
In  peace  the  fruits  of  righteousness  are  sown.  The  dew  of 
Divine  wisdom  distils  from  a tranquil  sky.^  In  a community 
occupying  so  critical  a position,  standing,  as  it  were,  between  a 
doomed  nation  and  a Judge  near  at  hand,  patience  should  be 
allowed  to  have  her  perfect  work.  The  husbandman  waiteth 
for  the  rain.  Job  waited  for  the  end,  and  prayed  for  the  friends 
who  vexed  him.  Elias,  a man  like  other  men,  a great  and  fiery 
heart  full  of  passionate  aches  and  yearnings,  waited  and  prayed 
for  rain ; and  the  rain  came  at  his  request,  and  the  xhe  Prayer 
parched  earth  yielded  fruit.  Such  prayer,  such  pa- 
tience,  might  still  be  found  availing.  The  sinner  might  yet  be 
converted  from  the  error  of  his  ways.^°  With  the  tenderness, 
then,  of  that  mother,  who  won  her  child  from  the  precipice,  not 
by  warning  cries,  but  by  a silent  act  of  instinctive  maternal 
love,”  James  yearned  for  the  salvation  of  all  Israel ; and  in  his 
solicitude  spoke  with  bated  breath,  lest  the  sharp  distinctive  word 
might  startle  them  into  madness,  and  so  precipitate  their  ruin. 

Such  seems  to  have  been  the  spirit  of  Judaic  Christianity, 
in  its  better  aspect.  It  was  the  religion  of  intercession;  the 
embodiment  of  the  Divine  heart’s  desire  that  all  Israel  The  spirit 
should  be  saved.  It  was  the  living  continuation  of  the  ckriit^n- 
prayer  of  Jesus  on  the  Cross.  While  Gentile  Christi- 
anity,  bold,  free,  and  full  of  joy,  was  advancing  Joshua-like  in 

• 7 James,  ii.  14-26.  8 James,  ii.  7;  v.  12. 

9 James,  iii.  13-18.  James,  v.  7-20. 

“ Greek  Anthology,  alluded  to  in  Keble’s  Christian  Year — Commina- 


42 


History  of  the  Church. 

the  line  of  spiritual  aggression,  Jerusalem, 'like  Moses,  was  con- 
tent with  an  humbler  posture.  She  prayed  for  the  victory  whiclifl^ 
freer  hands  achieved. 

The  end  of  James,  as  related  by  the  most  ancient  of  Church 
Historians,"^  accords  entirely  with  this  view  of  his  character 
and  position. 

Advantage  was  taken  of  the  temporary  anarchy  that  followed 
the  death  of  Festus  the  Roman  governor  to  stir  up 

The  end  of  . ° i i i 

james^  a tumult  agaiiist  the  Christians.  In  the  midst  of  the 
excitement  some  of  the  Sadducees  addressed  them- 
selves to  James.  “Tell  us,”  said  they,  “who  is  Jesus?” 

He  answered,  “The  Saviour.”  Thereupon  many  of  the  Jews 
believed,  both  among  the  rulers  and  among  the  common  people. 
But  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  alarmed  at  the  growing  expecta- 
tion of  a speedy  advent  of  Jesus  in  judgment  upon  their  nation, 
determined  to  appeal  to  James’s  conservative  and  patriotic  feel- 
ings. “We  entreat  thee,  restrain  the  people  who  are  led  astray 
after  Jesus,  as  if  He  were  the  Messiah!”  Then,  conducting 
him  to  a conspicuous  place  on  one  of  the  wings  of  the  Temple, 
they  asked  him  the  same  question  that  the  Sadducees  had  put  to 
His  Con-  him  before:  “O  Zaddick,  declare  to  us.  What  is  the 
fession.  door  of  Jesus,  the  crucified  1 ” He  answered,  “ Why 
do  ye  ask  me  respecting  Jesus  the  son  of  Man?  He  is  now  sit- 
ting in  the  heavens,  on  the  right  hand  of  Power,  and  is  about 
to  come  on  the  clouds  of  Heaven.”  Thereupon  many  of  the 
people  cried  out,  “Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David!”  But 
others  came  behind  him,  and  cast  him  down  from  the  Temple ; 
and  as  he  raised  himself,  and  knelt,  repeating  for  the  last  time 
Hegesippus  : Euseb.  ii.  23. 

^3  Eusebius  has  it,  “ What  is  the  door  of  Jesus  ? A manifest  allusion  to 
a common  Christian  phrase,  but  difficult  to  reconcile  with  James’s  answer. 
Mosheim  and  others  have  supposed  that  Eusebius  has  mistranslated  his 
authority,  and  various  readings  are  suggested.  Without  choosing  among 
these  conjectures,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  vivid  expectation  of  the  Lord’s 
coming  speedily  in  judgment,  doubtless  made  such  phrases,  e.  g.,  “ the  Judge 
is  at  the  doorf  more  current  than  usual,  and  a desire  to  know  the  meaning  of 
these  phrases  may  have  suggested  the  peculiar  form  of  the  question. 


The  yewish  Christian  Church. 


43 


Warnings. 


that  prayer  of  his  Master,  ^‘Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
\now  not  what  they  do,^*  he  was  cruelly  despatched  with  clubs 
and  stones. 

He  died,  as  he  had  lived,  a patriot  saint.  The  people  knew 
this  to  be  his  character,  and  his  martyrdom  was  spoken  Honor  paid 
of  among  them  as  a public  calamity.  He  was  buried 
with  honor  near  the  Temple,  and  a pillar  marked  the  place  of 
his  death. 

The  remorse  of  the  Jews  was  increased  by  the  signs  of 
coming  wrath  which  at  that  time  began  to  thicken  signs  of 
around  the  mother  city,  and  to  prepare  the  minds  of 
the  inhabitants  for  some  terrible  event. 

It  was  about  this  time,  for  example,  that  one  Jesus,  the  son 
of  Ananias,  began  to  harrow  men’s  souls  with  that  terrible  cry 
of  Woe^  which  resounded  for  so  many  years  through 
the  streets  and  along  the  walls  of  the  devoted  city. 

With  this  were  many  other  signs  of  a similar  description.  A 
fiery  sword  was  seen  waving  in  the  air ; embattled  hosts  appeared 
to  be  contending  in  the  sky  ; the  East  gate  of  the  Temple  swung 
open  of  itself,  and  voices  were  heard  crying,  let  us  go  hence  ! 
In  short,  men’s  hearts  were  failing  them  for  fear,  and  the  popu- 
lar mind  was  haunted  with  gloomy  presentiments  of  impending 
judgment."^ 

After  the  death  of  James,  Symeon,  a son  of  Cleophas  and 
a cousin  of  the  Lord,  was,  for  that  reason  perhaps,  elected  in 
his  place.  Down  to  that  time  the  Jewish  Christian  Successors 
Church,  though  somewhat  degenerated  from  its 
purity  and  simplicity,  had  remained,  as  the  ancients  expressed 
it,  a virgin  in  the  faith.  Now  the  seeds  of  heresy  began  to 
spring  up.  One  Thibutis,  a disappointed  candidate  Seeds  of 
for  the  office  of  Bishop,  became  the  ringleader  of  a 
faction.  The  bias  that  existed  towards  low  and  fleshly  views  of 
the  nature  of  the  Messiah,  the  naturally  disputatious  and  ration - 
^4  Tacitus  and  Josephus  both  mention  these  signs. 

*5  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  Epistle  of  S.  James  show  that  this 
degeneracy  had  begun. 


44 


History  of  the  Church. 


alistic  turn  of  the  Jewish  mind,  the  disturbances  that  would 
necessarily  arise  from  the  gradual  discontinuance  of  Mosaic^ 
rites  on  the  part  of  the  more  enlightened,  the  general  madness 
of  the  times,  and  last  not  least,  the  increasing  isolation  of 
Judaic  Christianity,  were  so  many  seeds,  as  it  were,  of  discord 
and  dissension  ; so  that  the  spirit  of  faction  having  once  secured 
an  entrance,  every  sort  of  error  found  in  the  divided  flock  its 
appropriate  prey. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  the  woes  denounced  so  long  be- 
forehand against  Jerusalem  had  come  to  a head.  Seven  years 
of  rebellion  against  the  Romans,  attended  with  atrocities  of 
je^vish  every  imaginable  description,  had  only  exasperated 
the  intense  hatred  with  which  the  foreign  yoke  was 
regarded.  Finally,  the  city  was  besieged  by  Titus,  whose  father 
Vespasian  had  been  called  from  the  leadership  in  Judaea  to  the 
empire  of  the  world  : and  after  a mad  struggle,  un- 

Jerusalent  ^ i 

taken,  paralleled  in  the  history  of  human  wickedness  and 
misery,  it  was  taken  and  destroyed.  The  Temple  was 
demolished.  • Such  of  the  inhabitants  as  survived  the  horrors  of 
the  siege  were  sold  for  slaves,  and  scattered  once  more  among 
the  nations. 

The  Christian  Jews  alone  escaped  the  common  fate.  Re- 
membering the  predictions  and  commandment  of  the  Lord, 
they  had  taken  advantage  of  a lull  in  the  storm  of  war,  just  after 
Christians  ^^st  siege  of  the  city  and  the  repulse  of  the  Roman 
fella  f army  under  Cestius  Callus,"^  and  had  withdrawn  in  a 
A.D.  65.  body  to  Pella,  a city  of  Decapolis.  There  many  of 
hem  remained,  continuing  the  observance  of  Mosaic  rites. 

~ thers  returned,  and  dwelt,  a sad  flock,  among  the  ruins  of  the 
city.  In  a subsequent  persecution  under  Trajan,  Symeon  their 
Convey-  Bishop  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom  ; and  Justus, 
sions,  ^ factious  opposition,  was  elected  in  his  place. 

About  the  same  time  many  thousands  of  the  Jews  were  con- 

Josephus  mentions,  that  ‘‘  after  the  calamity  of  Cestius,  many  of  the 
most  illustrious  Jews  departed  from  the  city  as  from  a sinking  ship.”  Jos. 

Bell,  yudaic. 


45 


The  Jeivish  Christian  Church. 

verted.  The  terror  and  the  ruin  which  dogged  them  everywhere, 
* must  have  added  force  in  the  minds  of  the  more  devout,  to  the 
arguments  and  claims  of  Christianity. 

Justus  died  early  in  the  second  century,  and  was  followed  by 
a rapid  succession  of  twelve  Bishops,  whose  brief  episcopates 
have  led  to  the  supposition  of  a violent  persecution  Jewish 
during  that  period.  It  may  have  been,  that  in  choos-  Bishops, 
ing  their  chief  pastors  the  Jewish  Christians  attached  an  undue 
importance  to  age,  and  to  fleshly  connection  with  the  house  of 
David.  Their  spiritual  rulers,  therefore,  were  in  all  probability 
more  venerable  than  efficient. 

In  fact,  Judaic  Christianity  had  already  accomplished  its 
mission  in  the  world.  Its  peculiar  rites,  tolerated  by  the  Apos- 
tles on  the  principle  that  ‘‘  what  decayeth  and  waxeth 
old  is  ready  to  vanish  awayT  had  lost  all  warrant  for  Judaism 

. . , ended. 

their  continuance  from  the  time  that  the  Divine  judg- 
ment had  gone  forth  against  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple.  Forty 
years*^  God  had  spoken  to  the  Jews  in  their  own  tongue,  as  it 
were.  «Forty  years  He  had  waited  for  their  repentance.  To 
persevere  longer  in  a system  unfavorable  to  the  free  spirit  of  the 
Gospel,  would  only  separate  the  Hebrews  from  their  brethren 
of  Christendom  at  large,  and  subject  them  to  the  dwarfing  and 
deadening  influence  of  sect  and  party  feeling. 

It  is  probable  that  this  truth  dawned  but  gradually  on  the 
minds  of  the  Hebrew  Christians.  Being  recognized  by  some, 
and  more  or  less  repudiated  by  others,  it  proved  the  occasion, 
as  it  were,  of  a new  sifting  of  the  nation.  The  strict  Judaizers 
separated  by  degrees  from  their  larger-minded  brethren. 

Nazarenes^ 

A sect  of  Nazarenes  arose,  legalists  and  purists  of  Ebionites., 

1 • 1 ri^i  T-.1  • • Sampsceans. 

the  narrowest  kind.  The  Ebionites,  more  actively  ra- 
tionalistic, adhered  to  the  law,  rejected  the  Divinity  of  Christ, 

*7  Oar  Lord’s  ministry  began  about  the  year  30;  the  destruction  of  the 
Temple  was  in  the  year  70  or  72,  on  the  same  day  of  the  week  and  month  on 
which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  burnt  the  former  temple.  Many  other  coinci- 
dences, manifestly  showing  that  Judaism  had  come  to  an  end,  are  to  be  found 
in  Dr.  Jar\ds’s  Chtn'ch  of  the  Redeemed also  in  Fculkes’s  Man.  of  Ec.  Hist. 


46 


History  of  the  Church. 


and  covered  the  nakedness  of  their  unbelief  with  shreds  of 
Gnostic  speculation.  The  Sampsaeans  fell  back  upon  a supposed 
primitive  Jacobite  tradition.  These,  and  perhaps  many  other 
obscure  sects,  sprang  in  course  of  time  from  the  now  cold  and 
sluggish  blood  of  Judaic  Christianity. 

The  deliverance  of  the  mother  Church  of  Christendom 
^ , from  influences  of  this  kind  seems  to  have  been  con- 

Second 

overthrow,  summated  by  the  second,  and,  so  far  as  the  Circum- 

A.D.  135. 

cision  was  concerned,  decisive  overthrow  of  the  sa- 
cred city. 

The  Emperor  Hadrian,  provoked  by  the  long  series  of  rebel- 
lions, which  the  infatuated  Jews  continued  to  renew;  provoked 
especially  by  the  insurrection  of  Bar  Cochba,  that 
baleful  ‘‘son  of  a star,**  whose  claims  to  the  Messiah- 
ship  had  to  be  quenched  in  the  blood  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  his  countrymen  : destroyed  whatever  remains  were  left  of  the 
Jewish  metropolis;  and  built  upon  its  site  a Gentile  colony 
under  the  name  of  ^lia  Capitolina,  forbidding  the  Jews  and 
everything  Jewish  to  enter  its  walls  any  more.^® 

From  that  time  forth,  the  Jewish  Christians,  under  Marcus, 
a Bishop  of  Gentile  extraction,  the  sixteenth  from  S.  James  in 
G nt'ie  of  descent,  became  a homogeneous  portion  of 

Succession,  the  mass  of  Catholic  believers ; and  Jerusalem,  or 
-^ia,  recovered  something  of  its  pristine  glory,  as  one 
of  the  principal  Apostolic  Sees. 

Of  those  who  refused  to  conform  to  the  new  order  of  things, 
the  greater  part  were  absorbed  in  Gnostic  or  Ebionite  sects. 


Bar 

Cochba. 


Sulpicius  Severus,  quoted  and  discussed  by  Mosheim,  Comm,  xxviii.  i. 


S.  Peter. — S.  Mark. — S.  Clement. 


47 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

S.  PETER. s!  MARK. S.  CLEMENT. 

S.  Peter’s  labors  are  sufficiently  well  known  to  show  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promises  made  to  Him  by  our  Lord,  but  beyond 
that  point  are  matter  of  conjecture  only.  Being  the  Peter's 
first  to  confe.ss  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  he  became  the 
first  stone'  in  the  spiritual  foundation  of  the  Church.  He  held 
the  keys,  and  was  not  slow  to  use  them,  by  which  the  door  of 
the  kingdom  was  opened  to  the  three  great  divisions  ^is  use  of 
of  the  human  race.  To  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  to  the 
Samaritans  in  Samaria,  and  to  the  Gentiles  in  Caesarea,  these 
cities  being  the  centres  respectively  of  the  three  races  in  Pales- 
tine, he  was  foremost  in  giving  the  seal  of  sonship  and  adoption. 
Finally,  having  resided  for  awhile  in  Caesarea  and  Antioch,  and 
having  labored,  perhaps,  in  the  countries  mentioned  in  his  first 
Epistle,  he  closed  his  career  in  Rome  in  company  with  S.  Paul. 
He  was  crucified,  it  is  said,  with  his  head  downward. 

* S.  Matt.  xvi.  17-19;  Peter  is  Petros,  not  Petra:  a distinction  not  to  be 
overthrown  by  any  supposed  Aramaic  original  used  by  our  Lord.  Whatever 
word  our  Lord  may  have  used,  the  Greek  of  the  New  Testament  is  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Holy  Ghost ; and  the  Holy  Ghost  came  as  the  Interpreter  of  the 
words  of  our  Lord.  If  the  Holy  Ghost,  therefore,  calls  Simon  Petros,  and 
the  Rock  on  which  the  Church  was  built  Petra,  we  ought  to  adhere  to  the 
distinction.  While  on  this  subject,  I may  remark  that  the  Rock  seems  to  be 
the  Scripture  symbol  of  the  Divinity,  and  the  Stone,  of  the  Humanity  of  our 
Lord.  The  Church,  of  course,  was  founded  on  both.  The  keys  are  by  many 
regarded  as  synonymous  with  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing.  It  seems 
more  natural  to  apply  the  figure  to  the  first  admission  to  the  Church ; espe- 
cially as  that  admission  was  accompanied  in  Samaria  and  Jerusalem  by  two 
terrible  examples  of  exclusion.  This  primary  application,  however,  does  not 
preclude  the  other  and  more  common  sense. 


48 


History  of  the  Church. 

The  account  given  by  Eusebius  of  a supposed  visit  to  Rome, 
just  after  the  conversion  of  Cornelius,  is  liable  to  objection,  not 
His  Visits  only  from  the  silence  of  the  Acts  and  of  the  Epistle  to 
to  Rome.  Romaiis,  but  ffom  the  over  close  resemblance  be- 

tween this  alleged  visit  and  that  which  took  place  at  a later 
period ; an  encounter  with  Simon  Magus  being  common  to 
both  occasions.  Nothing  is  more  natural  in  tradition  than  to 
make  two  events  out  of  two  accounts  of  one  and  the  same 
event. 

His  travels  being  much  in  the  direction  of  S.  Paul’s — to 
Caesarea,  Antioch,  the  countries  mentioned  in  his  first  Epistle, 
His  possibly  Corinth,  possibly  Babylon  in  Egypt,  and  more 

Travels.  certainly  Rome — he  seems,  according  to  an  under- 
standing with  that  Apostle,  to  have  addressed  himself  mainly 
to  the  Hebrews,  or  ‘‘strangers  scattered  abroad.”*  Hence,  in 
establishing  the  Episcopate  in  Antioch  and  Rome,  S.  Paul  and 
Bishoprics  said  to  have  acted  in  concert.  In  the  former 

founded.  Euodius  and  Ignatius  were  appointed  the  first 

Bishops, — Euodius  over  the  Jewish,  and  Ignatius  over  the  Gen- 
tile converts  the  two  races,  it  is  supposed,  remaining  for 
awhile  distinct  in  their  places  and  modes  of  worship.  After- 
wards, in  that  great  frenzy  of  expiring  Judaism  which  extended 
to  all  parts  of  the  Roman  world,  Euodius  was  slain  in  an  out- 
break of  the  Heathen  against  the  Jews ; and  his  separate  charge, 
abandoning  their  peculiarities,  became  under  Ignatius  an  homo- 
geneous portion  of  the  now  united  flock.  Similar  events  may 
have  taken  place  in  Rome.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 

2 I Peter,  i.  The  Epistle  is  written  for  Gentile  Christians  (ii.  lo)  : but  the 
style  of  address  shows  that  S.  Peter  regarded  them  from  the  Judaic  point  of 
view — as  sojourners,  strangers  scattered  abroad,  etc. 

3 Such  is  the  conjecture  of  Baronins,  following  the  assertion  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Constitutions ; though  the  fact  of  more  than  one  Bishop  appointed  to  a 
city  may  be  as  well  or  better  explained  by  that  collegiate  principle  on  which 
the  Apostles  so  often  acted.  It  might  be  also,  that  in  a troublous  period,  when 
synods  could  not  be  held,  and  Bishops  could  not  assemble  from  different  cities, 
it  would  be  thought  best  to  secure  a sort  of  synodal  action  by  having  two,  or 
three,  or  more  Bishops  in  each  of  the  great  centres.  See  Book  II.  chap.  x. 


S.  Peter. — S.  Mark. — S.  Clement. 


49 

the  ultimate  fusion  of  the  Jew  and  Gentile  Churches  is  one  of 
the  obscurest  points  in  early  Church  history. 

S.  Peter’s  character,  and  there  is  solid  reason  to  believe 
his  '‘gift,”  or  peculiar  work,  were  eminently  pastoral.^  His 
natural  impulsiveness,  his  proneness  to  precipitous  His  a/t 
extremes,  and,  above  all,  the  affectionateness  of  his 
disposition,  made  him,  when  disciplined  by  grace,  the  more 
capable  of  sympathizing  largely  with  men  of  every  sort,  and  of 
distinguishing  complementary  opposites  from  those  really  antag- 
onistic and  irreconcilable.  In  this  respect  his  threefold  denial 
may  have  been  as  useful  to  him  as  his  threefold  confession. 
Having  experienced  that  infirmity  of  "amazement  t.o  which 
the  "lambs”  are  liable,  he  was  the  better  able  to  have  compas- 
sion for  it.  Having  needed  strengthening  himself,  he  Hh 

was  the  more  ready  to  "strengthen  the  brethren.”  It 
is  remarkable,  however,  that  the  latest  inspired  record 
of  this  great  Apostle  exhibits  him  in  his  weakness,  rather  than 
in  his  strength.  When  he  first  went  to  Antioch,^  he  showed  his 
appreciation  of  the  grace  given  to  the  Gentiles,  and  of  their 
entire  equality  with  the  Jews,  by  freely  eating  with  them ; but 
afterwards,  yielding  to  the  urgency  of  the  Judaizing  party,  he 
withdrew  from  this  position,  and  exposed  himself  censuredby 
thereby  to  the  censure  of  S.  Paul.  Of  the  events  of 
his  later  life  even  tradition  says  little.  From  his  second  Epistle 
we  gather  that,  like  S.  Paul,  he  was  forewarned  of  the  approach 
of  death, 7 and  saw  the  fiery  trials  that  were  coming  upon  the 
Church.  It  is  equally  certain  that  he  did  what  in  him  lay  to 
provide  for  all  emergencies.  That  he  was  ever  Bishop  of  Anti- 
och and  Rome,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,®  is  warranted  by 

4john,  xxi.  15-17.  It  seems  to  me  characteristic  of  the  two  Apostles, 
that  S.  Paul  calls  our  Lord  ‘‘  the  Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  our  Profession,” 
but  S.  Peter  entitles  Him  ‘‘  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  our  souls.” 

5 I Peter,  hi.  6.  ^ Gal.  ii.  ii.  7 2 Peter,  i.  14. 

^ The  claim  that  he  was  seven  years  Bishop  of  Antioch,  and  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years  Bishop  of  Rome,  involves  chronological  and  other  difficulties 
without  number.  See  Barrow  on  the  Pope's  Supremacy.  Tillemont  i^Me- 

3 


50 


History  of  the  Church. 


His  Wife. 


S.  Mark. 


S.  Clement. 


no  reliable  testimony  of  the  early  Church ; but  that  he  and  S. 
Paul  appointed  the  first  Bishops  of  those  cities  seems  to  have 
been  generally  admitted. 

S.  Peter  was  a married  man;  and  his  ^‘company/*  as  may 
be  inferred  from  a passage  of  S.  Paul,  was  graced  by  those 
genial  influences  of  domestic  life  which  the  Jews,  in 
travelling,  were  more  accustomed  than  the  heathen  to 
^Mead  about with  them.^  His  most  intimate  associates  were 
first  S.  John,  afterwards  vS.  James  of  Jerusalem,  S.  Barnabas,  and 
finally  S.  Paul. 

S.  Mark  the  Evangelist,  his  chosen  ^^Son,’*  or  Disciple,  he 
sent  to  Alexandria,  where,  after  preaching  the  Gospel 
in  various  parts  of  Egypt,  he  established  the  Evan- 
gelic See,  and  left  Annianus  Bishop. 

S.  Clement  of  Rome,  left  as  Bishop  of  that  See  with  Linus 
and  Cletus,  became  sole  Pastor  after  the  death  of  these 
two,  and  is  the  author  of  the  only  uninspired  record 
now  extant  of  the  Church  in  the  first  century. 

It  is  a fraternal  Epistle  from  the  Church  of  Rome  to  that  of 
Corinth,  occasioned  by  a factious  attempt  in  the  latter  city  to 
depose  certain  Presbyters  from  their  office.  Hence 

Epistle  to  ^ ^ ^ 

the  letter  is  largely  occupied  with  questions  of  Church 
order.  The  writer  sees  a law  of  harmony  and  pro- 
portion in  all  the  works  of  God.  Sun  and  moon,  earth  and 
stars,  the  tides  of  the  sea,  the  seasons  of  the  year,  the  shifting 
winds,  the  overflowing  fountains,  and  all  the  innumerable  tribes 
All  things  living  creatures,  move  freely,  but  harmoniously,  in 
subject  to  the  order  that  God  has  foreordained  and  unalterably 

Law, 

established.  The  same  principle  must  apply  to  God^s 
spiritual  kingdom.  His  worship  is  not  to  be  left  to  fancy  or  ca- 
price. His  word  is  not  to  be  divided  by  all  men  alike.  The  Chief 

moires^  etc.'),  in  his  endeavor  to  reconcile  this  claim  with  facts,  shows  his 
embarrassment  at  every  step.  Tom.  i.  part  2. 

9 I Cor.  ix.  5.  Peter’s  wife,  tradition  says,  was  a worthy  helpmeet. 
When  summoned  “to  go  home”  by  the  path  of  martyrdom,  she  obeyed  the 
summons  with  joy.  Euseb.  iii.  30 ; Clem.  Alex.  Stromal,  vii. 


S.  Peter. — 5.  Mark. — S.  Clement. 


51 


Priest  has  his  proper  office;  the  Priests  theirs;  the  Levites  theirs; 
and  the  Layman  is  called  to  the  work  of  legitimate  lay  service. 
All  are  not  Prefects ; all  are  not  Chiliarchs ; all  are  not  Centu- 
rions. Each  has  his  vocation,  each  his  appointed  place.  It 
remains,  therefore,  for  each  to  attend  to  his  own  business  in  that 
particular  station  to  which  it  hath  pleased  God  to  call  him. 
This,  with  many  charitable  exhortations,  is  the  sum  of  the 
Saint’s  counsel  to  the  turbulent  Corinthians ; a counsel  so 
highly  appreciated  in  those  times  that  the  sedition  was  ap- 
peased, and  the  Epistle  was  for  a long  while  read  publicly  in 
the  Churches,  with  a respect  hardly  inferior  to  that  paid  to  the 
Canon  of  Inspiration. 

This  admirable  Letter,  like  the  Pastoral  Epistles  of  S.  Paul, 
serves  to  mark  that  crisis  in  Church  History  when  questions  of 
order,  naturally  postponed  in  the  first  effusion  of  Pen- 

^ . Questions 

tecostal  life,  had  to  be  considered  and  deliberately  set-  0/  order, 

, hoiu  settled, 

tied.  The  Churchman,  the  Bishop,  the  Divine,  is  now 
taking  the  place  of  the  Evangelist  or  Apostle.  The  Tabernacle 
once  reared  by  the  first  Preachers,  it  devolves  upon  their  suc- 
cessors to  drive  the  stakes  and  stretch  the  cords.  With  Clement 
in  Rome,  John  in  Ephesus,  Ignatius  in  Antioch,  Symeon  in 
Jerusalem,  and  Annianus  in  Alexandria,  to  superintend  the 
work,  there  is  every  assurance  that  it  was  done  well  and  wisely ; 
so  that  God  was  the  author  of  the  order,  as  well  as  of  the  doc- 
trine, which,  on  the  lifting  of  the  curtain  of  the  second  great 
Act  of  the  Church’s  history,  we  find  to  be  everywhere  prevail- 
ing, and  everywhere  the  same. 


52 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

S.  JOHN. 

S.  John,  the  beloved  disciple,  differed  from  his  brethren  in  this 
~ , , respect,  that  his  main  work  seems  to  have  begun  about 

S.  John  the  ^ ^ 

survivor  the  time  that  they  were  summoned  to  their  rest.  For 

of  the  . . 

Apostolic  his  peculiar  mission  he  had  to  tarry,  as  it  were,  until 

Colle£^e. 

the  Lord  came.*  His  influence  was  reserved  for  the 
generation  that  came  after  the  doom  of  the  Holy  City. 

Soon  after  the  martyrdom  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul,  he 
Removes  removed  to  Asia  Proper,  a field  in  which  the  wheat 

Proplr.  was  already  mingled  with  the  tares  of  pernicious 

speculations.  He  afterwards  visited  Rome,  and  in  the  persecu- 
Rome.  tion  Under  Domitian,  was  banished  to  the  Isle  of 
Patmos.  On  the  accession  of  Nerva,  he  returned  to  Asia,  and, 
Patmos,  at  the  request  of  the  Bishops  of  that  Province,  assumed 
A.D.  96.  Episcopate  of  Ephesus,  which  then  lay  vacant. 

There  he  quietly  awaited  the  time  of  his  departure,  confining 
Ephesus,  his  preaching,  it  is  said,  to  the  simple  exhortation, 
‘‘Little  children,  love  one  another!  Towards  the  end  of  his 
life  he  was  so  infirm  that  he  had  to  be  carried  into  church.* 
Judging  from  the  traditions  of  this  period  of  his  life,  John 
continued  still  to  be  a Son  of  Thunder, — the  thunder  not  the 
Uis  less  terrible,  that  it  came  from  a cloudless  sky.  Less 
demonstrative  than  Peter,  and  with  less  sympathy. 
Thunder,  perhaps,  for  commoiiplace  passions  and  infirmities,  he 
loved  the  Divine  Word  with  an  intense  and  contemplative  devo- 

* S.  John,  xxi.  22. 

* Euseb.  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  18,  23,  24,  31 ; v.  24,  Clemens  Alexandr.  Quis 
Dives  Salvus  ? 42. 


S.  John. 


53  ' 


tion ; and  '‘the  brethren**  he  loved,  as  idealized  in  Him,  as 
shielded  by  His  luminous  presence  from  all  contact  or  approach 
of  the  Evil  One.  To  him  God  was  Light,  without  a shade  of 
Darkness.  There  was  no  middle  ground  in  his  view,  no  shading, 
no  perspective.  His  eagle  eye  knew  no  such  thing  as  twilight. 
He  loved  the  Truth,  and  hated  lies.  Half-truths,  half-lies,  or 
half-love  for  either,  had  no  place  in  his  conceptions. 

Such  a character  is  too  pure  and  single,  too  inward  and 
upward-looking,  for  ordinary  occasions.  It  needs  a special 
crisis  to  draw  it  out  from  its  luminous  sphere.  When  ^ , 

Suited  to  a 

the  moral  atmosphere  becomes  lethargic  and  pesti-  particular 

1-1  1 j • 1 • * • Crisis, 

lential,  so  that  a new  and  quickening  power  is  imper- 
atively demanded,  then  is  the  time  for  the  Sons  of  Thunder  to 
awake.  At  other  times  sheathed  in  imperturbable  serenity,  they 
know  not  themselves  what  spirit  they  are  of,  and  are  still  less 
open  to  superficial  observers. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  early  death  of  James,  the  elder 
of  the  two  brothers,  was  occasioned  by  some  lightning-burst  of 
zeal  thus  specially  awakened.  Herod  had  James  sum-  Brother 
marily  beheaded  ; but  Simon  Peter,  a more  prominent,  anValfy 
and  ordinarily  a more  impetuous  leader,  he  was  con-  ^a,rtyr. 
tent  to  cast  into  prison.  The  Son  of  Thunder,  it  is  likely,  had 
in  some  way  or  other  touched  the  tyrant  to  the  quick. 

Of  the  younger  son  of  Zebedee,  two  acts  remain  to  show 
that  the  spirit  which  would  call  down  fire  from  heaven  upon  the 
heads  of  the  Samaritans,  was  rather  chastened  than 
extinguished  by  the  power  of  Divine  grace.  On  one 
occasion  he  fled  with  horror  from  a public  bath,  because  the 
heretic  Cerinthus  happened  to  be  there.  No  house 

Cerinthus, 

could  stand  that  harbored  an  enemy  of  the  Truth ! 

At  another  time  he  had  entrusted  a youthful  convert  to  the  pas- 
toral care  of  a certain  Bishop  not  far  from  Ephesus.  Young 
The  youth  fell  away,  and  became  a leader  of  banditti. 

When  John  heard  of  it,  he  smote  his  head,  rent  his  clothes,  and 
having  vehemently  rebuked  the  remissness  of  the  Shepherd, 
went  himself  among  the  robbers  in  quest  of  the  lost  sheep.  His 


Traditions, 


54 


History  of  the  Church. 


yearning  love  was  wonderfully  rewarded.  He  brought  back  the 
youth  a penitent,  and  restored  him  to  the  Church. 

With  love  such  as  this,  tempered  by  God’s  grace  and  sheathed 
ordinarily  in  a serenity  of  character,  childlike,  affectionate. 
His  Influ  profound,  S.  John  was  the  man  of  all 

ence Anti-  Others  to  cope  with  those  grievous  wolves,”  the 

£^nosttc , 

theosophic  heresies  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  century, 
whose  approach  S.  Paul  had  so  solemnly  predicted  to  the  Ephe- 
sian shepherds.  3 He  had  the  eagle  eye  to  discern  the  spoiler 
from  afar ; the  sudden  swoop  of  the  eagle  to  strike  him  down. 
His  intuitive  quickness  of  perception,  united  as  it  was  to  a 
soaring  imagination  and  a virgin  heart,  qualified  him  not  only  to 
Christian  bring  out  a true  Christian  gnosis  face  to  face  with  the 
Gnosis.  gnosis^  of  the  heretic,  but  to  array  it  in  a garb  of 

majestic  simplicity  and  beauty.  The  demonstration  of  this 
power  was  reserved  for  a time  of  peculiar  peril  to  the  Faith. 
At  a period  when  Christianity  was  becoming  an  object  of  theo- 
retic scrutiny,  when  a speculative  and  highly  imaginative  philos- 
ophy was  displaying  its  gorgeous  hues  before  the  eyes  of  the 
refined  and  sensitive  Greeks  of  Asia  Minor,  and  when  every  lie 
found  it  necessary  to  assume  a profoundly  mystic  and  religious 
shape,  then  and  there  was  the  true  sphere  found  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Divine  and  Prophet.  His  utterances,  childlike, 
clear  as  crystal,  but  with  much  of  that  terrible  crys- 
tal ” which  in  Ezekiel’s  vision  overarches  the  canopy  of  heaven, 
were  admirably  adapted  to  such  a state  of  things. 

In  other  respects,  also,  S.  John  merited  his  title  as  the 
Apostle  of  Love.  For,  as  love  is  the  bond  of  all  perfectness. 
Apostle  the  complement  of  all  virtues,  and  the  fulfilling  of  all 
of  Love.  it  would  seem  to  have  been  the  privilege  of  the 

beloved  Disciple  to  give  the  last  finish  to  the  foundation  work 
of  his  brethren ; and  as  Apostle,  Prophet,  Doctor,  Evangelist, 
and  Pastor,  to  supply  whatever  might  be  lacking  in  the  organ- 


His  Style, 


3 Acts,  XX.  29,  30. 

4 “ Oppositions  of  science  falsely  so  called.’^  i Tim.  vi.  20. 


S.  John.  55 

ization,  or  whatever  might  be  desirable  for  the  strength  and 
beauty,  of  the  Church. 

His  Gospel,  written  late  in  life,  is  the  key-stone,  as  it  were, 
of  evangelic  history.  His  Epistles  are  eminently  an  epitome^  or 
summary,  or  rather  a kind  of  sublimated  essence,  of 
the  Faith.  His  Revelation,  in  like  manner,  contains  „ Epistles, 

. . Revelation. 

the  substance  of  all  prophecy:  its  gorgeous  visions 
gathering  like  many-colored  clouds  around  the  sunset  of  inspi- 
ration, blending  in  one  harmonious  whole  the  glories  of  Isaiah, 
Ezekiel,  and  Daniel,  and  illumining  the  entire  field  of  the 
Church’s  conflicts  to  the  end  of  time. 

Considering  the  peculiarities  of  his  character  and  position, 
there  is  inherent  probability  in  the  story,  that  he  set  his  seal,  as 
it  were,  to  the  three  Gospels  of  his  predecessors,  and  import 
perhaps  to  the  whole  Canon  of  inspiration.  Living  of  his 
thirty  years  within  the  region  to  which  most  of  the 
Epistles  are  addressed,  he  could  hardly  have  been  unacquainted 
with  them.  One  of  the  four  great  Liturgies  is  ascribed  to  him,^ 
at  least  in  its  germ,  or  outline.  His  name  is  associated  also  with 
the  Asiatic  custom  of  observing  the  Jewish  Pascha.  Without 
laying  undue  stress  upon  particulars  of  this  kind,  there  was 
doubtless  a special  Providence  in  his  long  and  peaceful  residence 
among  the  Churches  of  Asia.  The  second  generation  is  always 

5 Palmer,  Origines  Liturgicce.  Polycrates  [apud  Euseb.)  mentions  that 
he  wore  the  petalon  of  high-priest.”  The  title,  the  Elder  or  Presbyter,  that 
S.  John  applies  to  himself  in  his  second  and  third  Epistles,  may  indicate  that 
his  “ gift,”  or  particular  vocation,  lay  in  the  quiet  duties  of  the  sanctuary, 
rather  than  in  the  more  stirring  life  of  a missionary  Apostle.  It  was  S.  Paul’s 
“gift”  to  lay  the  foundation;  it  may  have  been  equally  S.  John’s  to  build 
upon  foundations  already  laid.  The  term  “ Presbyter,”  however,  as  used  by 
S.  John,  seems  to  stand  for  high  position  of  any  kind  (“  the  four  and  twenty 
Elders,”  for  example),  and  not  for  Presbyters*  in  the  restricted  sense.  Nean- 
der  concludes  from  its  use  in  the  two  Epistles,  that  they  were  not  written  by 
John  the  Apostle,  but  by  some  Presbyter  of  that  name.  He  seems  not  to 
notice  the  force  of  the  definite  article.  It  is  not  a Presbyter  or  Elder,  but  the 
Elder;  evidently  pointing  to  some  one  person,  to  whom  alone  that  designa- 
tion could  apply. 


56 


History  of  the  Church. 


a critical  period  in  the  history  of  religious  bodies.  The  first 
love  passing  away,  there  follows  a season  of  luke- 

Second 

Generation  warmness,  or  of  alternate  heats  and  chills.  Heresies 
begin  to  show  themselves,  schisms  are  engendered. 
The  most  trivial  differences  of  opinion  fester  and  gangrene  into 
causes  of  separation.  That  the  Church,  so  widely  diffused,  so 
heterogeneous  in  materials,  moving  in  such  a chaos  of  opinions 
and  amid  such  scenes  of  religious  and  civil  strife,  as  the  world 
at  that  time  presented,  should  not  only  have  passed  this  critical 
stage  of  her  existence  without  serious  loss,  but  should  have  pre- 
sented  at  its  close  a spectacle  of  unity  and  uniformity 
which  has  been  the  wonder  of  all  ages,  must  be 
ascribed  in  the  first  place  to  an  overruling  wisdom 
unfathomable  to  man ; and  in  the  second  place  to  S.  John,  as 
the  chief  of  the  chosen  instruments  employed  by  that  wisdom. 
‘‘Little  children,  love  one  another,'^  was  not  with  him  a mere 
word  of  exhortation.  It  was  the  symbol  of  a great  power  of 
discipline  and  order.  It  was  the  dove-like  spirit  of  a holy  con- 
servatism. For  thirty  years  in  the  person  of  S.  John,  and  for 
nearly  a hundred  years  in  him  and  his  noble  contemporaries 
Especially  who  overlived  him,  the  same  spirit  pervaded  the 
in  Asia.  Province  of  Asia;  and  from  that  living  and  loving 
centre  was  communicated  to  the  Churches  in  all  quarters  of  the 
world. 

The  persecution  under  Domitian,  commonly  reckoned  as  the 
second  of  the  general  persecutions,  in  which  S.  John  was  ban- 
Second  Gen-  ished  to  Patmos,  having  escaped  unhurt,  as  the  story 
7efufiZ\  from  a caldron  of  boiling  oil,^  was  general 

A D.  95.  rather  in  the  wide  alarm  it  caused,  than  either  in  its 
severity  or  duration.  It  seems,  in  fact,  to  have  been  nothing 
more  than  one  of  the  tyrant’s  innumerable  caprices.  His 

6 This  story  is  mentioned  by  Tertullian.  Whatever  the  testimony  may  be 
worth,  one  can  readily  imagine  that  S.  John’s  peculiar  phrase,  “ an  unction 
from  the  Holy  One,”  might  suggest  just  such  a punishment  to  the  cruel  and 
frivolous  mind  of  a tyrant  like  Domitian.  Tertull.  De  Prcescript.  Hcereticor. 

36. 


57 


Holy  Women. 

jealousy  of  everything  noble  and  illustrious  had  been  excited 
by  a rumor  of  certain  descendants  of  King  David  being  yet 
alive  in  some  part  of  Judaea.  When  he  found,  however,  that 
these  were  simple  and  poor  men,  his  anger  against  the  Christians 
ceased,  or  was  diverted  into  other  channels. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HOLY  WOMEN. 

The  high  position  held  by  woman,  both  in  the  Gospels  and  in 
the  Acts,  would  render  the  story  of  this  century  incomplete,  if 
at  least  some  allusion  were  not  made  to  those  who  may 

Women  in 

be  called  the  first  heroines  of  Christianity.  With  Tradition 

andHis- 

regard  to  them,  however.  History  has  proved  less  iory. 
mindful  than  Inspiration  and  Tradition.  Inspiration  has  pre- 
served their  names.  Tradition  has  fondly  embellished  them 
with  beautiful  though  inconsistent  traits.  To  History  nothing 
is  left  but  the  ungrateful  task  of  confessing  how  little  is  known 
about  them;  little,  at  all  events,  beyond  the  pregnant  hints 
given  in  the  New  Testament. 

S.  Mary,  the  Mother  of  our  Lord,  was  committed  by  Him 
to  the  care  of  the  beloved  Disciple ; and  with  him  she  remained, 
probably,  till  summoned  to  her  rest.  We  see  her  first 
as  a devout  and  holy  Virgin,  receiving  in  simple  but  Motker  of 

X Lord, 

thoughtful  faith  the  wonderful  message  of  the  Angel ; 
then  as  a matron  and  mother,  sympathizing  readily  with  the 
household  cares  of  her  friends,^  and  anxious  for  her  Son,  on  one 
occasion  with  sorrowful  solicitude,"*  and  on  another  with  a shade 
of  natural  misgiving  then,  as  one  of  the  few  who  stood  beside 
His  Cross ; and,  lastly,  as  a widow,  without  children  or  others 
near  of  kin  to  whom  she  could  be  confided,  left  therefore  to  the 

* S.  John,  ii.  3.  * S.  Luke,  ii.  48.  3 S.  Mark,  iii.  21,  31. 

3"^ 


58  History  of  the  Church. 

care  of  the  virgin  Disciple/  and  engaged  with  the  other  women, 
and  with  the  Apostles  and  Disciples,  in  the  daily  worship  of  the 
Church.  Within  these  limits  her  history  is  clear,  and  her  char- 
acter stands  out  in  singular  perfection  of  womanly  dignity  and 
beauty.  But  all  before,  and  all  after.  Inspiration  has  left  in 
Reserve  of  doubt.  With  a sacred  reserve  in  which  one  can  hardly 
Scrij>ture,  ^ Icsson,  Only  that  short  segment  of  her 

existence  is  made  visible  to  posterity,  in  which  she  vouches,  as 
it  were,  for  the  real  and  perfect  Humanity  of  her  blessed  and 
only  Son. 

Tradition,  or,  as  seems  more  probable,  heretical  invention, ^ 
endeavored  in  later  times  to  fill  this  blank.  Joachim  and  Anna, 
Legends  ^ blamelcss  pair,  were  both  well  stricken  in  years,  and 
and  Tra~  unblest  with  offspring ; for  which,  however,  they  con- 
tinued to  pray  without  ceasing.  The  latter,  on  one 
occasion,  in  the  fervor  of  her  petitions,  dared  to  go  within 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  which  the  high-priest  alone  is  allowed  to 
enter.  There  her  prayer  was  granted ; and  an  Angel,  at  the 
same  moment,  announced  the  good  news  to  Joachim,  then  far 
away  in  the  desert.  To  this  some  heretics  added,  that  the  birth 
of  the  Virgin  was  as  immaculate  and  miraculous  as  her  concep- 
tion had  been.  It  was  more  generally  believed,  on  similar 
authority,  that  she  lived  secluded  in  the  Temple  from  her  third 
to  her  fourteenth  year,  and  devoted  herself  to  a life  of  voluntary 
virginity.  In  the  same  way,  while  some  have  supposed,  on  the 
authority  of  a passage  of  doubtful  meaning  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Ecumenical  Council  of  Ephesus,  that  she  died  and  was  buried 

4 Her  being  thus  left  to  John  is  fatal  to  the  weak  argument  made  by 
Neander  and  some  others,  in  favor  of  the  theoiy  that  James  of  Jerusalem  was 
her  son.  James  survived,  till  just  before  the  Judaic  war;  his  brothers  (as  we 
learn  from  Hegesippus  in  Eusebius)  were  still  alive,  as  eminent  Christian 
men,  and  landowners,  though  not  rich,  towards  the  end  of  the  century.  All 
of  these,  leading  a quiet  and  stationary  life  among  their  own  kin,  were  in 
a better  position  to  take  care  of  her,  had  she  been  their  mother,  than  John 
could  have  been. 

5 These  stories  were  of  Gnostic  or  Ebionite  invention  ; many  of  the  early 
sects  pretending  to  a secret  tradition  unknown  to  the  Catholic  Church. 


59 


Holy  Women. 

in  that  city,  others  have  preferred  the  later  legend,  that  she 
came  to  her  end  in  Jerusalem,  and  after  three,  or,  as  some  will 
have  it,  forty  days,  rose  from  the  dead,  and  was  assumed,  soul 
and  body,  into  heaven.  But  all  these  notions,  and  innumerable 
others  of  the  same  kind,  are  without  the  least  show  of  historic 
foundation.  They  first  saw  the  light  in  times  long  after  the  age 
of  the  Apostles;  and  it  is  universally  acknowledged^  that  the 
writings  in  which  they  first  appear  are  utterly  apocryphal  and 
full  of  fables.’^ 

The  same  is  to  be  said  of  the  stories  concerning  Mary,  the 
wife  of  Cleophas,  and  other  faithful  women  who  ministered  to 
our  Lord.  Of  the  Prophetesses,  Deaconesses,  Wid-  other  Holy 
ows,  and  other  devout  handmaidens  of  the  Lord  men-  ^omen. 
tioned  in  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles,  the  traditions  are  equally  vague 
and  unsatisfactory.  If  the  legends  connected  with  them  have  any 
value,  it  is  merely  that,  as  a dark  and  confused  background, 
they  bring  into  clearer  light  the  dignity  and  simplicity  of  the 
Gospel  Narratives. 

To  the  honored  names  recorded  by  Inspiration,  Tradition 
has  added  a few,  such  as  that  of  S.  Theda,  the  first  female 
martyr;  and  that  of  Domitilla,  a niece  of  the  Empe-  , 

SS.  Theda 

ror  Domitian,  and  wife  of  Flavius  Clemens  his  cousin,  and 

Domitilla. 

who,  with  a great  number  of  others,  was  put  to  death 
for  Atheism  and  J^ewish  manners ; in  other  words,  for  the  pro- 
fession of  Christianity. 7 Domitilla  suffered  exile  for  the  Faith. 
S.  Theda,  a maiden  of  Iconium,  converted  by  S.  Paul  on  his 
first  visit  to  that  region,  devoted  herself,  it  is  said,  to  a life  of 
virginity;  left  a luxurious  home,  breaking  off  her  engageftient 
to  a noble  youth ; accompanied  S.  Paul  in  his  travels ; per- 
formed many  wonders ; and,  after  a miraculous  deliverance  from 

® See  Tillemont,  Baronius,  the  Bollandists,  et  al.  The  caution  with  which 
Roman  Catholic  writers  endeavor  to  sustain  the  credit  of  the  tissue  of  wonders 
connected  with  the  name  of  S.  Mary,  while  demolishing  the  credit  of  the 
earliest  witnesses  to  those  wonders,  is  most  remarkable.  Tillemont’s  notes  are 
particularly  instructive.  Me7noires  pour  Servir  d T Hist.  Eccles.  tom.  i. 

7 See  Gibbon’s  Decline  and  Fall,  etc.,  vol.  i.  ch.  xvi. 


6o 


History  of  the  Church. 

the  beasts  of  the  Roman  Amphitheatre,  seems  to  have  died  in 
peace.  Her  name,  widely  celebrated  in  the  early  Church,  heads 
a long  list  of  highly  intellectual  as  well  as  holy  women, 
to  whom  Christianity  and  virginity  were  pledges  of  a 
freedom,^  which  in  heathen  society  was  more  or  less  denied 
them.  Her  acts,  however,  first  written  by  a Presbyter  of  Asia 
Minor,  whom  S.  John  deposed  on  account  of  the  many  false- 
hoods contained  in  his  book,^  are  manifestly  entitled  to  little  or 
no  credit. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CHURCH  GOVERNMENT. 

That  all  powers  necessary  for  the  establishment  and  subsequent 
government  of  the  Church  were  committed  in  the  first  place  to 
the  Eleven,  and  afterwards  to  those  who,  either  by 

All  powers  j i i 

given  to  election  or  by  an  immediate  Divine  call,  were  added 
to  their  number,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  question. 
These  all  were  Apostles,  or  Legates  of  Him  who  is  the  Apos- 
tle of  our  profession,”  the  One  sent  forth  by  the  Father,  to  be 
Prophet,  Priest,  and  King.  But  the  mission  He  had  received 
from  the  Father,  He  gave  in  its  fulness  to  them.  The 
Apostles,  therefore,  were  the  ecumenical,  catholic,  per- 
petual Ministry.  Collectively,  they  attended  to  mat- 
ters of  general  concernment : individually,  each  had  a charge, 

^ The  preference  given  to  virginity  in  the  early  Church  tended  to  elevate 
woman  in  the  social  scale.  She  could  marry,  or  not,  of  her  own  free  choice. 
She  was  no  longer  an  article  to  be  disposed  of,  sometimes  in  infancy  or  child- 
hood, by  guardians  or  parents.  It  is  remarkable  how  many  of  the  female 
martyrs  were  virgins,  who  had  refused  to  marry  heathen  husbands,  to  whom 
they  had  been  thus  betrothed. 

9 Tert.  De  Bap.  17  ; Hier.  De  Vir.  ill.  7.  It  is  S.  Jerome  only  who  men- 
tions the  name  of  S.  John. 


by  the 

Apostle  and 
High  Priest. 


Church  Government. 


6i 


or  field,  the  limits  of  which  would  be  determined  by  mutual 
consent,*  or  on  general  principles  of  equity  and  convenience. 
In  their  relations  to  one  another,  they  were  ‘‘  broth-  Brothers 
ers,”  colleagues,  peers.  They  called  no  man  ‘‘father’*  Colleagues, 
on  earth.  According  to  the  type  of  the  old  Theoc- 
racy, a “kingdom”  was  given  to  them;  but  the  Head  was  to 
be  invisible  till  the  time  of  the  final  “ appearing  and  kingdom  ” 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

Such  was  the  ministry,  as  called,  and  trained,  and  commis- 
sioned by  our  Lord  himself.  That  it  was  to  be  the  abiding 
Order,  is  seen,  not  only  in  the  promise  of  perpetuity  The  abid- 
contained  in  the  words,  “ Lo,  I am  with  you  always,  Order. 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world,”  but  also  in  the  fact  that  the 
term  “Apostolic”  has  continued  in  all  times  and  places  to  be 
one  of  the  four  “notes,”  or  definitions,  of  the  “One,  Holy, 
Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church.”'* 

* Gal.  ii.  9;  Rom.  xv,  i6. 

2 Among  modem  German  writers  on  this  subject,  Mosheim  acknowledges 
the  early  rise  of  Episcopacy,  and  is  almost  disposed  to  grant  that  James  was 
Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  He  confounds  Bishops,  however,  with  Diocesans  or 
See-bishops ; forgetting  that  Bishops  at  Ihrge,  missionary  Bishops,  etc.,  have 
existed  in  all  ages.  Dr.  Schaff  is  entangled  in  the  same  error,  and  while  he 
professes  to  give  the  arguments  pro  and  con,  he  misstates  the  argument  for 
Episcopacy,  and  so  neutralizes  its  force.  Neander  denies  altogether  the  exist- 
ence of  a clerus,  or  clerical  order  in  the  Apostolic  Church.  Dr.  Ease  starts 
from  the  point  that  “ the  Twelve  Apostles  at  first  regarded  themselves  as  a 
perfected  or  exclusive  college  for  the  establishment  of  Christianity  in  the 
world but,  in  referring  to  the  establishment  they  made  in  Jerusalem,  omits 
all  mention  of  James.  In  this  way,  he  staves  off  Episcopacy  till  the  times  of 
S.  Ignatius,  and  accounts  for  it  (as  some  rationalists  account  for  the  existence 
of  the  world)  by  the  concurrent  power  of  circumstances.”  Gieseler  very 
fully  grants  the  early  establishment  of  Episcopacy  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  person 
of  James.  Thiersch  (the  Irvingite)  treats  the  subject  as  many  Anglicans  have 
done,  except  that  on  a very  fine  point  (the  position  of  S.  John  relatively  to 
the  seven  angels)  he  builds  up  a theory  of  an  Episcopacy  of  three  orders,  viz.. 
Apostles,  Angels,  Bishops.  Rothe  makes  Episcopacy  to  have  been  established 
by  the  Apostles  in  council,  at  the  election  of  Symeon  (Euseb.  iii.  ii).  Other 
Germans  have  adopted  different  shades  or  mixtures  of  these  various  views. 
Among  Anglican  writers,  I may  mention  Bilson’s  Perpetual  Divine  Govern- 


62 


History  of  the  Church. 

By  calling  the  Seventy  to  the  same  ministry  with  the  Twelve, 
though  in  a secondary  capacity,  our  Lord  established  a semi- 
Ap  toi'c  were,  for  a second  and  larger  growth  of 

Aids  or  Apostolic  leaders. 3 The  name  Disciples  given  to  them 

implies  that,  while  fulfilling  a temporary  mission  as 
‘‘prophets  of  the  kingdom,”  they  were  in  training  and  expec- 
tation of  a more  enduring  office.  Accordingly,  from  their  ranks 
Matthias  was  elected  to  the  vacant  bishopric  of  Judas.  Barna- 
bas, also,  was  probably  one  of  these.  So,  likewise,  S.  Luke, 
and  many  others  afterwards  called  Apostles.  In  imitation  of 
this  system  of  a secondary  Apostolate,  we  find  in  after  times 
that  each  of  the  chief  Apostles  was  accompanied  in  his  labors 
by  a chosen  company  of  sons,  disciples,  brothers,  colleagues, 
yoke-fellows,  sometimes  called  Apostles  or  Messengers  of  the 
Churches,  who  held  to  their  principals  some  such  relation  as 
Joshua  to  Moses,  as  Elisha  to  Elijah,  as  the  sons  of  the  prophets 
to  the  prophets,  or  as  the  Twelve  more  recently  had  held  to  our 

ment  as  a work  less  read  than  it  deserves  : also,  among  American  authors, 
Onderdonk,  On  Episcopacy^  Mines’s  Presbyterian^  etc.,  Wilson,  Church  Iden- 
tified, In  the  following  chapter  Ifjiave  given  (perhaps)  mpre  weight  to  the 
collegiate  principle  than  is  commonly  conceded  to  it. 

3 Dr.  Schaff  sees  in  the  calling  of  the  Seventy  a reference  to  the  Gen- 
tiles ; but  arbitrarily  distinguishes  the  secondary  Apostles  as  Evangelists,  Of 
the  eight  whom  he  so  designates,  not  one  is  so  called  in  the  New  Testament; 
while  the  term  apostles  (translated  “ messengers,”  Phil.  ii.  25  ; 2 Cor.  viii.  23) 
of  the  Churches  is  applied  to  many  of  S.  Paul’s  companions.  Timothy,  in 
one  place  (2  Tim.  iv.  5),  is  exhorted  to  do  the  work  of  an  Evangelist.  But 
this  does  not  prove  him  to  have  been  an  Evangelist  only^  any  more  than  Acts, 
xiii.  I,  would  prove  Paul  or  Barnabas  to  have  been ‘‘ prophets”  only.  Dr. 
Schaff  mentions  Mark  and  Luke  among  his  Evangelists — because,  I suppose, 
they  are  commonly  so  called.  But,  on  the  same  principle,  he  might  have  in- 
cluded Matthew  and  John.  The  truth  is,  the  term  Evangelist  means  simply 
one  who  had  an  extraordinary  ‘^gift”  for  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  in  that 
sense  S.  Paul  was  the  chief  of  Evangelists — but  none  the  less,  however,  an 
Apostle  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word.  I may  here  remark,  that  in  the  13th 
canon  of  Neo-C?esarea  (a.d.  315)  the  Village  Bishops  are  said  to  be  “in  imita- 
tion of  the  LXX.,”  and  therefore  “ fellow-officers  in  the  same  service”  with 
the  City  Bishops. 


Church  Government.  63 

Lord  himself.  Being  endowed  with  special  gifts — ^‘Apostles, 
Prophets,  Evangelists,  Pastors,  Teachers*' — being  designated  in 
some  cases  by  ‘^prophecies  going  before,*’  being  employed  in 
the  larger^fields  of  labor  as  Apostles  of  the  Churches,  being 
personally  acquainted,  moreover,  with  the  Apostles*  “doctrine, 
purpose,  and  manner  of  life,**  they  were  in  some  sense  their 
disciples,  or  sons,  but  in  another  sense  their  aids,  or  fellow- 
laborers.  Thus,  Timothy  was  more  than  once  clothed  with  the 
full  authority  of  S.  Paul.  His  name,  like  that  of  second 
Titus,  Sosthenes,  and  Silvaj:ius,^  is  associated  with  S.  ^thT%o{~ 
Paul’s  in  the  superscription  of  Epistles.  All  that  they  toiate. 
lacked,  during  the  lifetime  of  S.  Paul,  was  a field  of  primary 
or  separate  jurisdiction.  But,  in  serving  thus  in  a secondary 
position,  they  simply  followed  the  example  of  their  leader.  For 
it  is  to  be  observed  that,  during  his  ministry  in  Antioch,  Saul 
himself  was  reckoned  last  among  a company  of  “ prophets,”  of 
which  Barnabas  was  first.  So,  in  the  first  missionary  journey, 
he  was  second  to  Barnabas.  It  was  twelve  years  or  more  after 
his  first  calling  by  our  Lord,  that  he  assumed  a primary  position 
as  an  Apostolic  leader.^ 

Such,  then,  was  the  catholic  or  ecumenical  ministry  of  the 
Church  : at  first,  one  Apostolic  company  of  Twelve,  resident 
in  Jerusalem  : afterwards,  when  the  door  to  the  Gen- 

One  College 

tiles  had  been  opened,  numerous  companies  or  colleges  at  first, 

. . . then  many. 

of  the  same  kind,  acting  dispersedly  but  harmoniously 
in  all  quarters  of  the  world.  The  collegiate  principle,  which  is 
manifest  in  all  this,  was  never  abandoned  in  the  Church.  Even 
when  each  great  city  came  to  have  its  own  Bishop,  the  principle 
was  retained  in  that  ancient  canon  which  required  two  The  Prin- 
or  three  prelates  to  concur  in  Episcopal  ordinations ; 
and  still  more  fully,  in  the  custom  of  annual  or  semi-annual 
Synods.  Wherever  truth  was  to  be  proclaimed  with  fulness  of 
authority,  as  against  some  heresy,  for  example,  the  “great  com- 
pany of  preachers”  was  obliged  to  come  together. 

4 I Cor.  i.  I ; 2 Cor.  i.  i ; Phil.  i.  i ; Col.  i.  i ; i and  2 Thessal.  i.  I. 

5 Acts,  xiii.  I,  2;  xiv.  14;  xv.  12,  25. 


64 


¥ 

History  of  the  Church. 


Local 
Ministry; 
Presbyters.^ 
DeaconSy 
•with  a 
Chief- 
Pastor  y or 
Bishof. 


The  sojourn  of  the  Twelve  in  Jerusalem,  the  only  Church 
founded  by  the  original  Apostolic  College,  enabled  them  to  es- 
tablish in  that  great  centre  the  first  pattern  and  exam- 
ple of  a local  Church.^  There  were  Presbyters,  or 
Elders,  who,  being  sometimes  called  Bishops,  or  Over- 
seers, may,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  be  distinguished 
as  Presbyter-Bishops,  To  them  were  added  the  Seven, 
afterwards  called  Deacons,  Finally,  the  work  of  organizing  the 
mother  Church  at  Jerusalem  being  duly  accomplished,  James, 
an  Apostle,  and  probably  one  of  the  original  Twelve,  was  put 
in  special  charge  of  that  important  See  ; and  the  other  Apostles, 
leaving  its  government  to  him,  separated,  and  departed  on  their 
respective  missions. 

From  that  time  forth,  James  stands  before  us  in  a twofold 
^ relation.  He  is  an  Apostle,  reckoned  first  among  the 

fames  an 

Apostle-  three  main  ‘‘pillars’^  of  the  universal  Church.  He  is 

Bishop.  ^ 

a local  Chief-pastor,  Bishop,  or  Overseer.  We  may 
call  him,  therefore,  by  way  of  distinction,  the  Apostle-Bishop  of 
the  See  of  Jerusalem. ^ 

Now,  what  the  Apostles  did  collectively  with  regard  to  the 
mother  See,  they  afterwards  did  severally,  though  from  the  dif- 
ference of  circumstances  somewhat  more  slowly,  with 
regard  to  other  Churches  in  the  limits  of  their  respect- 
ive missions.  Wherever  a Church  was  founded.  Pres- 
byters or  Bishops^  were  ordained.  To  them  a certain  oversight, 
subject  to  that  of  the  Apostolic  founder,  was  duly  committed. 
They  could  preach,  teach,  minister  in  things  sacred,  and  act  in 


The  same 

System 

elsewhere. 


^ “ The  new  Churches  out  of  Palestine  formed  themselves  after  the  pat- 
tern of  the  mother  Church  in  Jerusalem  ....  James  ....  stood  in  Jerusa- 
lem, where  he  continued  to  reside,  at  the  head  of  the  Churchy  in  equal  esteem 
with  the  Apostles  ....  quite  in  the  relation  of  a later  Bishop,  but  without 
the  appellation.”  Gies.  Ecc,  Hist.  § 30.  (Smith’s  Am.  Ed.) 

7 Gal.  i.  19;  ii.  12;  Acts,  xii.  17;  xv.  13;  xxi.  18. 

^ I assume  the  identity  of  meaning  of  these  two  names  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, though  there  is  high  authority  among  sound  critics  for  making  a dis- 
tinction. Those  who  make  the  distinction  can  put  the  origin  of  city  Sees  and 
resident  Bishops  a little  earlier  than  it  is  put  in  this  chapter. 


Clinch  Government. 


65 


matters  of  discipline  and  doctrine  as  a kind  of  local  council, 
senate,  or  sanhedrim.  Deacons  were  in  like  manner  appointed, 
with  a special  view  to  the  administration  of  the  charities  of  the 
Church.  The  proper  sphere  of  woman,  as  a help-meet  Deaconesses, 
for  man,  in  the  higher  as  well  as  lower  cares  of  life, 
was  acknowledged  in  the  assignment  of  certain  charitable  offices 
to  Deaconesses  and  Widows,^  the  same,  perhaps,  that  are  some- 
times called  elder  women,  or  Presbyteresses.  The  Eider 
Churches,  thus  organized  by  each  particular  Apostle,  ^omen, 
continued  to  be  the  objects  of  his  paternal  care ; were  visited 
by  him,  or  by  some  one  of  his  company,  at  certain  intervals; 
and,  on  the  natural  and  equitable  principle  of  each  limiting  his 
supervision  to  the  line  of  his  own  labors,  constituted  his  field 
or  jurisdiction. Thus  S.  Paul  was  Apostle-Bishop  of  Ephesus, 
Corinth,  and  many  other  places.  The  assignment  of  one  resi- 
dent head  to  each  city  Church  was  naturally  reserved,  until  the 
number  of  Christians  in  each  place,  and  the  number  of  persons 
duly  qualified  and  trained  as  ‘‘Apostles  of  Churches,^’"  ren- 
dered such  an  arrangement  desirable  and  practicable. 

This  simple  order,  by  which  the  government  of  each  local 
Church  was  so  admirably  knit  to  that  of  the  Church  at  large, 
was  everywhere  quickened,  as  it  were,  by  the  charis-  charisms, 
mala,  largesses,  or  special  “ gifts,''  which  followed  the  Gifts. 
triumphant  Ascension  of  our  Lord  to  the  Right  Hand  of  the 
Majesty  on  High.  Such  “gifts"  were  needed  as  a “sign."  In 
the  lack  of  a sufficient  number  of  persons  duly  educated  for  the 
office,  they  fitted  a great  mass  of  believers  Tor  some  useful  part 
in  “the  work  of  the  Ministry,"  and  were  among  the  chief  in- 
struments of  the  supernatural  growth  of  the  Church. 

Among  these,  the  “gift"  to  be  Apostles  naturally  held  the 
first  place.  Close  akin  to  this  were  the  special  endowments 
which  distinguished  the  fit  persons  for  Prophets,  Evan- 
gelists, Pastors,  Teachers,  Those  who  exhibited  signs 
of  the  possession  of  these  higher  gifts,  seem  generally  to  have 

9 I Tim.  V.  9;  Tit.  ii.  3;  Phil.  iv.  3. 

I Cor.  iv.  14-21 ; 2 Cor.  x.  15,  16.  2 Cor.  viii.  23. 


Their 

Order, 


66 


History  of  the  ^urch. 

been  enrolled  in  the  companies  of  the  Apostles.  Last  of  all 
were  a crowd  of  inferior  talents,  miracles,  healings,  helps,  gov- 
ernments, diversities  of  tongues,  and  the  like,  which  continued  so 
short  a time  that  the  very  meaning  of  the  names  is  only  matter 
of  conjecture. 

This  wonderful  profusion  of  extraordinary  gifts  for  the  Min- 
istry is  no  essential  part  of  the  Ministry  itself.  It  was  simply  a 
Their  gracious  provision  for  a single  and  peculiar  crisis.  It 

Purpose,  belonged  to  the  sowing,  or  planting  season.  It  was 

that  flowering,  or  blossoming  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  which  partly 
anticipated,  and  partly  developed  the  fruits  of  ordinary  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  culture.  Like  the  parallel  phenomenon  of 
the  Old  Testament"^ — the  outbreak,  namely,  of  the  spirit  of 
prophecy  in  the  Camp,  while  the  order  of  the  Tabernacle  was 
being  established — it  opened  the  way,  and  gave  a Di- 

Type, 

vine  sanction,  or  sign,  to  the  necessary  division  and 
distribution  of  ministerial  functions. As  S.  Paul  declares  : 
The  gifts  were  given,  ^‘in  order  to  fit  believers  for  ministerial 
work’^ — to  fit  them  ‘‘for  the  edification,*’  or  building  up  “of 
the  Body  of  Christ.”'^  When  this  miraculous  fitting  of  men 
for  the  Ministry  had  been  sufficiently  accomplished ; when, 
according  to  what  seems  to  be  the  drift  of  the  lively  mixed 
metaphors  of  the  Apostle,  the  Church  had  weathered  the  com- 
paratively unsettled  and  critical  time  of  its  infancy,  and  was 

*2  Numbers,  xi.  24-30. 

*3  If  any  notions  of  parity  existed  among  the  early  Christians,  nothing 
could  more  effectually  have  rebuked  such  notions,  and  prepared  men’s  minds 
for  a system  of  subordinated  grades  in  the  Ministry,  than  the  ineasure  in 
which  the  gifts  were  given.  See  Rom.  xii.  3. 

Ephesians,  iv.  12-16;  in  which  passages  S.  Paul  declares  (i)  the  occa- 
sion of  these  gifts,  viz.,  the  Ascension  in  triumph ; (2)  their  nature,  viz.,  to  be 
Apostles,  Prophets,  etc.,  etc. ; (3)  their  object,  viz.,  Trpdf  KarapTLGiibv — “ for 
fitting,”  adapting,  perfecting — “the  saints,”  elq  — “into  ministerial  work,” 
etc. ; (4)  their  duration,  viz.,  till  the  Church,  having  passed  its  infant  state, 
arrives  at  the  well-compacted  proportions  of  a mature  and  settled  manhood, 
i.  e.,  till  it  should  be  strong  enough  to  be  left  to  the  laws  of  ordinary  and  his- 
toric growth. 


Chicrch  Government. 


67 


hardening  into  the  definite  proportions  of  maturer  manhood ; 
when,  in  short,  its  organic  connection  with  Christ,  the  Head, 
had  been  compacted  by  the  development  of  all  the  joints  and 
bands  of  a harmonious  system  of  order  : then,  prophecies  began 
to  fail ; then,  tongues  began  to  cease ; then,  miraculous  knowl- 
edge vanished  away ; then,  the  gifts,  in  short,  and  the  beautiful 
and  marvellous  ministration  of  gifts,  were  quietly  withdrawn 
from  the  sphere  of  human  experience ; and  ordinary  gifts,  or 
talents,  took  their  place. 

And  this  is  confirmed  by  observing  the  difference  made  by 
our  Lord  between  that  preparatory  and  extraordinary  commission 
given  to  the  Twelve  and  the  Seventy  when  they  were  Difference 
sent  forth  two  by  two  as  Prophets  of  the  Kingdom,  and  Temp^ary 
that  perpetual  charge  laid  upon  the  Twelve  when  they  Per^nanent 
were  sent  forth  with  full  powers  to  preach  the  Gospel.  Mission. 
In  the  former  commission  He  says  : Preach  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  at  hand,  heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead, 
cast  out  devils:  freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give.’^  The 
power  to  do  wonders  is  an  essential  part  of  their  mission.  But 
in  the  latter  commission  He  says  : Go  ye  out  into  all  the 
world,  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  baptize,  teach  all 
things  that  I have  commanded ; and  lo  ! I am  with  you  always, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world.**  No  extraordinary  power  is 
embodied  in  their  commission.  For,  though  miraculous  gifts 
are  afterwards  alluded  to,  it  is  not  in  connection  with  the 
Ministry,  but  with  the  Church  in  general.  These  signs  shall 
follow  them  that  believe.**  From  all  which  it  is  evident  that 
while  the  gift  fitted  men  to  be  able  Ministers  of  God,  and 
sometimes  designated  the  persons  who  should  be  admitted 
into  the  Ministry  they  were  no  essential  feature  of  the  Ministry, 
itself. 

In  the  exercise  of  their  office  as  chief  rulers  of  the  Church, 
the  Apostles  did  not  hesitate  to  assert  their  authority  „ 

Power 

when  necessary,  but  at  the  same  time  avoided  all  ap-  communi- 

^ GATED. 

pearance  of  despotic  or  monocratic  rule.  They  com- 
municated to  the  Presbyters  every  priestly  power  of  the  min- 


68 


History  of  the  Church. 

istry/5  and  a share  of  every  governing  or  kingly  power.  The 
particular  function  which  they  reserved  absolutely  to  themselves 
was  that  of  ordination ; and  even  in  this  the  Presbyters  took 
part,  when  the  person  ordained  was  to  be  admitted  into  their 
own  order.  The  ‘Maying  on  of  hands’’  for  confirmation 
seems  also  to  have  been  reserved  to  the  highest  order,  at  least 
Relation  of  during  the  Apostolic  age."^  In  accordance  with  this 
fraternal  communication  of  ministerial  powers,  the 
another.  Presbyters,  and  Brethren  generally,  were  taken  into 
council  with  the  Apostles,  even  in  matters  which  the  latter  were 
perfectly  competent  to  determine  by  themselves.  In  the  same 
spirit  S.  Peter,  in  addressing  the  Presbyters,  could  speak  of 
himself  as  their  syinpresbyteros,  fellow-presbyter ; the  powers 
of  the  ministry  being,  in  fact,  so  distributed,  that  no  name  can 
be  given  to  any  one  order,  which  is  not  in  some  sense  applica- 
ble to  the  others  also.  The  earliest  image,  therefore,  of  the 
relation  of  the  Presbytery  of  each  local  Church  to  the  Chief 
Pastor,  was  that  which  represented  the  Bishop  as  in  the  place 
of  Christ, "7  and  the  Presbyters  as  in  the  place  of  His  “ friends  ” 
and  “brethren,”  the  Twelve:  an  idea  beautifully  carried  out  in 
the  most  primitive  arrangement  of  Churches ; namely,  that  of 
thirteen  thrones,  the  middle  one  of  which  was  occupied  by  the 
Bishop,  the  others  by  the  Presbyters.  The  Deacons,  in  like 

*5  It  is  in  priestly  power,  sacerdotio^  that  S.  Jerome  affirms  the  equality  of 
Presbyters,  Bishops,  and  Apostles.  Ep.  ad  Evangelum. 

Bingham’s  AntiquitieSy  B.  ii.  ch.  xix. 

'7  S.  Ignatius  (ad  Magnes.  6)  represents  the  three  orders  respectively  as 
in  the  place  of  Gody  of  the  Apostles y of  yesus  Christ.  The  context,  however, 
seems  to  show  that  by  the  first  of  these  expressions  he  means  Christ  as  the 
Divine  head ; and  by  the  third,  Christ  in  Plis  earthly  ministry.  It  has  been 
well  observed  by  Pearson,  Bingham,  and  others,  that  S.  Ignatius  exalts  the 
Presbyters  as  earnestly  as  he  does  the  Bishop.  The  same  may  be  said  of  his 
way  of  speaking  of  that  order,  “ the  dearest  ” to  him,  the  Deacons.  The  idea 
of  coordination  was  more  prominent  to  his  mind  than  that  of  subordination — 
though  the  latter  was  not  lost  sight  of.  “ My  life  for  him  that  is  subject  to 
the  Bishop,  Presbyters,  and  Deacons — God’s  stewards,  assessors,  and  minis- 
ters.” See  Bingham,  ii.  xix.  6-8;  ii.  xx.  i8. 


Church  Government. 


69 


manner,  were  represented  as  angels  and  prophets/’*^  bearing 
the  diaconia  of  Jesus  Christ : to  wit,  that  out-going  ministry, 
which  our  Lord  exercised  when  He  went  about  as  a prophet, 
doing  good.  The  three  orders,  in  short,  all  participated  in  the 
threefold  ministry;  the  main  difference  being,  that  in  the  first 
order  the  kingly  idea  was  most  prominent,  in  the  second  the 
priestly,  and  in  the  third  the  prophetic. 

The  People  also  were  encouraged  to  take  an  active  interest 
in  Church  affairs.  The  essential  kingly  priesthood  of  lay  In- 
the  mass  of  believers  was  as  carefully  inculcated  upon  f^-uence. 
the  Christian,  as  it  had  previously  been  upon  the  Israelite 
Church. The  doctrine  was  carried  out,  moreover,  into  dis- 
cipline and  worship.  As  already  mentioned,  the  Brethren  were 
present  at  Apostolic  councils;  and  decrees  went  forth  in  their 
name,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  Apostles  and  Elders.  In  the  choice 
of  the  seven  Deacons,  and  possibly  in  that  of  Matthias,  the  pre- 
cedent of  election  was  established  ; so  that  the  Church 

Election 

no  sooner  became  settled  than  popular  suffrage  con-  of  the 
curred  with  ordination  in  the  appointment  of  Bishops 
and*  other  Church  officers.  In  contributing  to  the  common 
cause  the  brethren  were  left  free  to  tax  themselves ; in  all  acts 
of  common  worship  they  had  an  important  part  assigned  them 
and  even  in  the  administration  of  discipline,  that  eminently 

So  called  in  Apostol.  Constitut.  ii.  30.  I may  observe,  in  passing,  that 
Deacons  in  modern  times  being  young  men  with  little  practical  experience, 
and  their  office  being  regarded  as  a mere  stepping-stone  to  a higher  order, 
we  have  but  a shadow  of  that  diaconate  which  was  held  by  such  men  as 
Stephen,  Philip,  Laurentius,  Athanasius,  and  others,  in  ancient  times.  The 
custom  of  having  only  seven  Deacons  to  a city,  however  large  it  may 
be  (Canon  14,  Neo-Ceesarea),  helped  to  give  dignity  to  the  diaconal 
office. 

^9  I Pet.  ii.  5 ; Exod.  xix.  6. 

The  Liturgies^  as  is  well  known,  abound  with  such  mutual  benedic- 
tions,, etc.,  as  “ The  Lord  be  with  you : And  with  thy  Spirit.”  For  this 
reason,  among  many  others,  a Liturgy  “ understanded  of  the  people  ” is  highly 
important.  Where  the  laity  are  deprived  of  their  just  part  in  public  worship, 
they  lose  with  it  many  other  rights. 


70 


History  of  the  Chu7^ch. 


Apostolic  office  of  binding  and  loosing,  their  cooperation  was 
earnestly  desired  and  thankfully  acknowledged.''* 

But  in  proportion  as  power  thus  descended  and  became  dis- 
tributed, as  it  were,  among  all  the  members  of  the  Body  of 
Christ,  there  was  the  greater  need  that  the  Bishopric,^ 

Needof  , . , ^ . , , . j ’ 

theEpis-  that  IS,  the  supreme  oversight  and  superintendence, 

copate.  , , , , , . ° „ 1 I 

should  be  exerted  in  a way  to  give  it  an  enectual  and 
decisive  weight. 

The  Apostles  exercised  it  in  a way  that  showed  their  sense 
of  its  importance.  They  fixed  their  residence,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, in  the  great  world  centres.  Thus,  from  the  cen- 

Oversight^  , 

how  exer~  tral  point  of  Ephesus,  S.  Paul,  for  three  years,  super- 
vised the  Church  work  going  on  throughout  the  whole 
Province  of  Asia.  They  made  regular  visitations,  as  frequent 
and  as  long  as  circumstances  would  permit,  to  the  several 
Churches  of  their  planting.  In  such  visitations,  the  Presbyter- 
bishops  were  assembled,  exhorted,  admonished  ; discipline  was 
administered  when  need  so  required ; ministers  were  ordained, 
faith  confirmed,  and  gifts  bestowed  by  the  laying  on  of  hands. 
Questions  of  order,  too  hard  for  the  local  authorities,  were  then 
definitely  settled.  In  this  way,  unity  and  uniformity  were  suffi- 
ciently secured.  What  Apostles  ordained  in  one  place,  they 
had  power  and  opportunity,  if  they  deemed  it  advisable,  to 
ordain  in  all.''^ 

And  when,  from  the  continuous  enlargement  of  their  re- 
spective fields  of  labor,  the  Apostles  saw  less  than  was 

Legates 

of  the  desirable  of  the  Churches  under  their  charge,  thev  ex- 

Apostles.  •II*  • -I  o 1 j 

ercised  their  oversight  by  written  Epistles,  or  by  send- 
ing one  or  other  of  their  Colleagues  or  Companions,  as  Angels, 


In  this  paragraph  I refer  chiefly  to  Acts,  i.  26 ; vi.  5 ; xv.  23 ; i Cor. 
xiv.  16;  2 Cor.  ix.  6-7;  i Cor.  v.  3-5;  2 Cor.  ii.  5-10 : passages  which  are 
confirmed  in  the  interpretation  I have  given  them  by  the  uniform  practice  of 
the  Church  in  the  second  and  third  centuries. 

22  Acts,  i.  20.  See  Chapin’s  View  ...  of  the  Prim.  Ch.  ch.  xv. 

23  Acts,  XV.  36;  xiv.  21-23;  xviii.  23;  xx.  17-35;  2 Cor.  xiii.  2;  i Cor. 
xi.  34 ; xvi.  I,  2. 


Church  Government. 


71 


Messengers,  or  Apostles  for  the  nonce.  Persons  thus  sent  were 
clothed  with  full  authority,  and  it  was  required  that  they  should 
be  received  and  treated  as  the  elder  Apostles  themselves. 

Finally,  towards  the  end  of  their  career,  when  the  elder 
Apostles  knew  that  the  time  of  their  departure  was  at  their  Suc- 
hand,  they  in  no  case  left  their  peculiar  powers  to  the  lessors. 
Presbyter-bishops,  or  to  the  local  congregations  but,  accord- 
ing to  the  uniform  testimony  of  the  early  Church,  assigned 
Timothy  to  Ephesus,  though  there  was  in  that  city  a numerous 
band  of  Presbyter-bishops;  Titus  to  Crete;  Linus,  Cletus,  and 
Clemens  to  Rome;  Symeon  to  Jerusalem,  after  the  death  of 
James;  Euodius  and  Ignatius  to  Antioch;  Polycarp  to  Smyrna; 
Annianus  to  Alexandria;  and  others  of  their  companions  to 
other  places.  They  gave  to  these,  moreover,  all  the  supervisory 
powers  of  the  Apostolic  office.  As  we  learn  from  the 

Powers 

Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  and  from  the  Book  of  gi-ven  to 
Revelation,  they  were  to  see  to  the  selection  of  fit  men 
for  Presbyter-bishops  and  Deacons;  to  ordain  such  as  were 
approved ; to  try  such  as  were  accused ; to  rebuke,  exhort, 

24  Acts,  xix  22;  2 Cor.  xii.  18;  viii.  23;  i Cor.  xvi.  10. 

25  S.  Jerome’s  declaration,  in  the  Epistle  ad  Rvangelum  (and  in  Com- 
ment. on  Tit.  i.  7),  that  “ after  contentions  arose,  one  saying,  I am  of  Paul, 
another,  I of  Apollos,  etc.,  it  was  decreed  through  the  whole  world,  that  one 
of  the  Presbyters  should  be  elected  and  placed  over  the  others,  and  to  him  the 
whole  care  of  the  Church  should  pertain,  that  the  seeds  of  schism  might  be 
removed,”  puts  the  origin  of  See-Bishops  rather  earlier  than  I have  done;  for 
such  “ contentions  arose  ” quite  early  in  Apostolic  times.  This  famous 
Epistle,  so  often  quoted  in  part,  ought  to  be  read  as  a whole.  It  would  then 
be  seen  that  S.  Jerome’s  object  is  to  show  that  a Presbyter  is  superior  to  a 
Deacon  in  priesthood — sacerdotio  esse  majorem  ; and  that  in  respect  of  the 
same  priesthood.  Presbyters,  Bishops,  and  Apostles^  are  equal : a point  uni- 
versally conceded.  This  fact  considered,  his  concluding  words  give  the  sum 
of  his  view  of  the  ministry ; “ What  Aaron,  and  his  sons,  and  the  Levites, 
were  in  the  Temple,  the  same  are  Bishops,  Presbyters,  and  Deacons  in  the 
Church.”  The  case  of  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  mentioned  by  S.  Jerome 
and  Ambrosiaster,  is  somewhat  peculiar;  but  I reserve  the  discussion  of  it  for 
another  place.  See  Book  II.  ch.  10,  of  this  History.  See  also  Chapin, 
chap.  XV. 


72 


History  of  the  Church, 

admonish,  with  all  authority ; to  expose  the  pretentions  of  false 
apostles ; to  exercise,  in  short,  the  same  oversight  and  rule  which 
the  first  generation  of  Church  rulers  had  exercised  before  them. 

In  this  way  the  Bishopric,  or  Apostolate,  as  commissioned 
by  our  Lord  after  the  Resurrection,  had  its  own  seed  within  it. 
The  Epis-  was  everywhere  transmitted  and  acknowledged  as 
7fi/%r-  the  sole  supreme  governing  and  ordaining  power.  The 
petuaitng.  power  not  thus  transmitted  was  that  of  working 

miracles.  But  that,  as  we  have  seen,  was  given  before,  not  after 
the  Resurrection  ; and  belonged  then,  as  at  all  other  times,  to 
the  extraordinary  prophetic  office  ’’  : namely,  to  that  kind  of 
preaching  which  prepares  the  way  for  a new  system,  or  lays  the 
foundations. 

About  the  time  that  this  beginning  of  a succession  was  made 
among  the  Gentile  Churches,  S.  James,  the  first  Bishop  of  Jeru- 
Three  Salem,  died,  and  Symeon,  a cousin  of  our  Lord,  was 
Witnesses,  j^jg  place.  Ill  the  generation  that  immedi- 

ately followed,  there  is  one  inspired  witness  of  the  order  then 
existing,  and  two  uninspired. 

S.  John,  addressing  the  mystical  Seven  Churches  of  Asia, 
exhorts  or  reproves  their  respective  Angels,  a term  etymolog- 
s John  equivalent  to  the  word  Apostles,  and,  as  used  by 

i^.Arst  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  implying  the  same  as 
Bishops  in  the  modern  sense.  A question  arises,  how- 
ever, whether  the  severe  rebukes  which  prove  these  Angels  to 
have  been  responsible  heads  of  the  seven  Churches  do  not  also 
prove  them  to  have  been  subordinate  to  the  Apostle  S.  John."^ 
To  this  the  obvious  answer  is  that  S.  John  merely  writes  ‘‘  what 
the  Spirit  saith,^^  in  the  character  of  a Prophet  or  Divine.  In 
other  words,  it  is  not  John  who  calls  the  seven  Angels  to  account ; 
it  is  the  Lord  himself.^  There  is  nothing  in  the  Apocalypse, 

26  Thiersch,  the  Irvingite  historian,  uses  this  supposed  fact  to  prove  the 
existence  of  his  threefold  Episcopate,  Apostles,  Angels,  Bishops.  If  the  fact 
were  as  he  supposes,  it  would  not  prove  the  three  distinct  orders  of  the  Episco- 
pate ; it  would  merely  point  to  a metropolitan  system. 

27  Rev.  i.  II. 


Church  Government, 


73 


therefore,  to  prove  the  existence  of  any  office  on  earth,  at  that 
time,  superior  in  order  to  that  of  the  seven  Angels.  On  the 
contrary,  the  fact  that  the  Lord  himself  addresses  them,  and  not 
the  Apostle,  rather  proves  them  to  have  been  in  a position  of 
accountability  to  the  Lord  alone. 

The  second  witness  of  this  period,  S.  Clement  of  Rome,  by 
referring  to  the  sacerdotal  analogy  of  High-Priests,  Priests,  and 
Levites,  or  to  the  military  analogy  of  Prefects,  Chili-  S.  Clement 
archs.  Centurions,  and  other  officers,  shows  incidentally,  witness. 
and  therefore  the  more  powerfully,  that  the  principle  of  subor- 
dination, or  prelacy,  was  acknowledged  in  the  Min-  priestiy 
istry.  In  the  same  incidental  way  he  mentions  Rulers 
and  Presbyters  in  one  place.  Bishops  and  Deacons  in  Military. 
another.''^  He  testifies  also  that  the  order  of  succession  was  settled 
by  Divine  Providence  and  by  Apostolic  authority.  ‘ ‘ The  ^ ^ 

Apostles  knew  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  conten-  Divinely 
tion  would  arise  about  the  name  of  the  Bishopric ; for 
which  reason,  being  possessed  of  perfect  foreknowledge,  they 
appointed  the  said  (Bishops  and  Deacons),  and  gave  order  for 
the  future,  how,  when  these  fell  asleep,  other  approved  men 
might  be  set  in  their  place. This,  he  adds,  was  settled  with 
the  consent  of  the  whole  Church.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that 
the  provision  against  schism,  which  some  have  represented  as 
made  by  Presbyters  after  the  Apostolic  age,  was  made  in  reality 
by  the  Apostles,  under  Divine  inspiration,  and  was  received 
universally. 

S.  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  whose  ministerial  life  had  been  for 
thirty  years  contemporaneous  with  that  of  S.  John,  is  ^ 
still  more  positive  in  his  testimony.  That  ‘‘  the  Epis-  the  third 
copate  IS  represented  by  him  as  the  Divinely  appointed 
pillar  which  sustains  the  whole  ecclesiastical  fabric,* is  now 

S.  Clem.  Ep.  Cap.  i.  xlii.  xliv. 

29  I quote  S.  Clement  only  for  this  because  the  sentence,  in  relation 
to  other  points,  is  somewhat  confused. 

30  Dr.  Hase,  Hist,  of  Christian  Church,  \ 59.  This  writer  adds,  and  Dr. 
Schaff  follows  him  in  the  assertion,  that  the  Episcopate  “ much  needed  his 

4 


74 


History  of  the  Church. 

universally  conceded  by  intelligent  historians.  It  is  therefore 
hardly  necessary  to  cite  his  words : it  is  enough  to  remark  that 
his  witness,  on  this  subject,  is  unaffected  by  the  controversy  with 
regard  to  the  genuineness  of  certain  portions  of  his  remaining 
Epistles.3* 

A question  still  remains,  as  to  how  far  the  Episcopate,  thus 
Metro.  settled,  assumed  in  Apostolic  times  that  metropolitan 
^System.  form  which  it  afterwards  bore,  and  to  which  in  all  ages 
it  naturally,  and  perhaps  logically,  tends. 3"* 

It  is  certain,  that  among  the  ancients  the  Mother  City  was 
not  only  a centre  of  social  and  political  influence,  but  an  object 
Mother  of  those  loyal,  reverential,  affectionate  feelings,  v/hich 
Cities,  modern  times  we  associate  rather  with  the  word 

fatherland,  or  mother  country.  By  devoting  so  much  of  their 
time  as  they  did  to  these  great  centres,  the  Apostles  availed 
themselves  of  this  state  of  things,  and,  it  may  be  said,  gave 
their  countenance  to  it.  They  made  the  centres  of  religious 
influence  coincident  with  those  of  social  or  political  power.  It 
was  natural,  therefore,  that  whatever  equality  might  exist  among 
Bishops,  Angels,  or  Apostles,  as  such,  considerable  inequalities 

earnest  commendations  ; ” namely,  that  it  was  a novelty^  and  therefore  needed 
defence.  If  earnest  commendation  of  a thing  is  proof  of  its  novelty,  we  shall 
have  to  regard  the  very  Faith  itself  as  a novelty;  for  there  is  not  a writer,  from 
S.  Paul  down,  who  does  not  earnestly  commend  it. 

3'  Dr.  Hase,  \ 73,  fully  admits  this ; see  also  Cureton,  Corpus  Ignatia- 
mini;  and  Schaff,  Hist.,  etc. 

32  Dr.  Schaff  urges  that  the  logical  tendency  of  Episcopacy  is  to  absolute 
centralization,  i.  e.,  Popery.  So  would  I say,  if  this  centralizing  tendency  had 
not  been  controlled  by  our  Lord  himself  in  the  appointment  of  twelve  brethren, 
who  were  to  call  no  man  father,  i.  e.,  pope,  upon  earth,  but  were  to  hold  to 
their  Head  in  Heaven.  In  other  words,  everything  in  the  Church  tends  to  a 
centre  or  point;  the  only  question  is,  where  that  centre  is  to  be  found.  Some 
say  in  Rome.  We  say  in  Heaven.  Some  make  “ the  kingdom”  perfect  here 
on  earth.  We  regard  it  as  imperfect  here,  and  therefore  wait  for  “ His  appear- 
ing and  Kingdom.”  To  this  I might  add  that  those  who  represent  the  original 
government  of  the  Church  as  Presbyterian,  yet  acknowledge  that  it  changed 
into  Episcopal  in  one  or  two  generations.  How  can  they  escape  the  inference 
that  Presbyterianism  logically  tends  to  Episcopacy. 


Church  Goverjiment. 


75 


should  arise  as  to  the  influence  and  weight  of  their  respective 
Sees. 

Thus  James,  one  of  the  last  and  least  of  the  Apostles,  came 
to  have  a certain  precedence  over  Peter  and  John. 33  Doubtless, 
it  was  because  he  was  the  head  of  the  Mother  Church.  „ 

Precedence 

In  after  times  Jerusalem,  which  had  been  first,  came  to  0/  jerusa- 
be  last,  in  point  of  influence  among  the  chief  Churches. 

As  soon  as  this  was  the  case,  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem  ranked 
accordingly. 

The  metropolitan  system,  therefore,  and  in  fact  the  whole 
system  of  precedence  that  obtained  in  the  early  Church,  was  a 
natural  development  from  the  twofold  representative  ^ 
character  of  Bishops.  As  representatives  of  Christ,  the  Character 

0/  Bishops. 

Head,  all  Bishops  were  ‘‘brethren,  “colleagues,^* 
peers.  As  representatives  of  particular  Churches,  or  cities,  they 
could  allow  certain  distinctions  of  honor  or  of  power  to  grow 
up  among  them.  Differences  of  this  kind  developed,  and  were 
more  clearly  systematized  and  defined,  as  the  way  was  gradually 
opened  for  provincial  or  general  Councils. 

It  was,  in  fact,  one  form  in  which  the  lay  element^  as  it  has 
been  sometimes  called — the  influence  of  numbers,  masses,  posi- 
tion, and  other  things  that  have  weight  in  secular  Rule  of 
affairs — gradually  made  itself  to  be  felt  in  the  govern- 
ment  of  the  Church.  Hence  the  rule  of  precedence  that  pre- 
vailed, and  which  was  firmly  maintained  by  the  six  Ecumenical 
Councils,  was  that  Bishops  should  rank  according  to  the  im- 
portance of  their  Sees.  Rome,  indeed,  contended  for  a different 
rule.  Foundation  by  S.  Peter  presented,  in  her  judgment,  a 
superior  claim.  But  in  spite  of  her  efforts,  ecclesiastical  prece- 
dence followed  the  changes  of  political,  and  instead  of  Jerusa- 


33  This  appears  in  the  Council,  Acts,  xv.  The  placing  of  his  name  before 
those  of  Cephas  and  John,  Gal.  ii.  9,  is  an  argument  of  a certain  precedence ; 
though  I do  not  think  it  amounts  to  anything  more  than  an  acknowledgment 
of  the  importance  of  the  Church  which  he  represented.  The  same  is  to  be 
said  of  the  prayer  pro  fidelibus  in  the  Ap.  Constitutions,  where  the  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem  is  prayed  for  before  him  of  Rome  and  Antioch. 


76  History  of  the  Church. 

lem,  Caesarea,  Antioch,  Rome,  Alexandria,  the  order  of  the 
Churches  came  in  time  to  be — Rome,  Constantinople,  Alexan- 
dria, Antioch,  and,  last  of  all,  Jerusalem. 

All  this,  however,  belongs  to  later  history.  In  Apostolic 
times  the  question  of  precedence  was  little  thought  of ; 
determined,  Considered,  it  seems  to  have  heen 

determined  by  the  rules  of  equity  and  common-sense. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DOCTRINE  AND  HERESIES. 

When  the  Disciples  were  sent  two  by  two  before  the  face  of 
the  Lord,  as  prophets  of  the  Kingdom,  their  prophesying  was 
thk  summed  up  in  the  one  pregnant  phrase.  The  Kingdom 
Gusprl.  jg  hand.  In  the  same  way,  when  the 

Apostles  went  forth,  their  evangel,  gospel,  god-spell,  or  good 
news,  was  the  announcement  and  explication  of  the  simple  his- 
toric fact,  that  the  Head  of  that  promised  Kingdom  had  truly 
come  and  done  the  work  which  the  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment had  so  long  before  predicted.  More  briefly  stated  : it  was 
Christ  come  simply  God  manifest  in  the  Flesh,  This  involved  the 
inthe Flesh,  \\i2X  He  had  been  born,  had  lived,  suffered,  died, 

and  especially  had  risen  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  up  in 
triumph  to  the  Right  Hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  To  witness 
to  this  truth  was  the  office  for  which  the  Church  had  been  cre- 
ated. To  receive  the  same  in  its  fulness ; to  embrace  it  with  all 
the  heart,  all  the  soul,  all  the  mind  ; to  measure  all  other  truth 
by  it,  making  it  the  analogy,’^  or  rule  of  faith  ; to  discern 
it  in  its  moral  and  intellectual,  as  well  as  spiritual  bearings  in 

* Examples  of  this  measuring  of  all  truth  and  duty  by  ‘‘  the  Gospel,”  are 
Rom.  vi.  1-14;  I Cor.  xv.  i,  3,  ii,  12,  etc.;  Ephes.  v.  22,33;  Coloss.  ii.  12; 
iii.  1-5 ; I Pet.  iv.  i ; i John,  iv.  2. 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


77 


short,  to  admit  it  wholly,  in  all  its  consequences,  as  a living 
principle  pervading  the  whole  life,  was  to  be  the  substance  of 
right  faith,  and  the  sum  of  sound  doctrine  to  the  end  of  time. 

But  nature  is  always  partial  or  one-sided  in  its  apprehension 
of  the  Truth.  Measuring  everything  by  a standard  of  human 
imperfection,  it  is  naturally  eclectic,  choosing  its  own 
ground  or  point  of  view,  and  holding  one  half  of  a 
doctrine,  to  the  denial,  exclusion,  or  overlaying  of 
other  parts  equally  vital  and  essential.  For,  in  the  reception 
of  any  fact  or  doctrine,  almost  everything  depends  upon  the 
standing-point  assumed.  A man  of  transcendental  turn,  relying 
exclusively  on  his  own  spiritual  intuitions,  will  despise  spirit^ 
the  sensible  evidences,  the  miracles,  the  sacraments, 
the  Scriptures,  the  external  body  of  Religion.  Such  men  fall 
into  gnostic,  mystic,  transcendental,  or  spiritualist  heresies. 
Another  class  of  men  believe  in  naught  but  rational  induction, 
or  logical  demonstration.  Like  the  Jews  of  old,  they  are  always 
demanding  ‘‘a  sign.’'  Such  men  are  apt  to  become  Ration^ 
positivists,  rationalists,  their  pravity  taking  sometimes 
a negative  or  skeptical,  and  sometimes,  when  the  mind  grows 
weary  of  denying,  an  arbitrarily  positive  form.  But,  to  the 
great  mass  of  men.  Religion  is  a matter  of  feeling,  or 
affection,  rather  than  of  speculative  insight,  or  rational 
conviction ; and  this  bias,  taking  sometimes  an  enthusiastic, 
sometimes  an  aesthetic,  or  sometimes  a legal  and  moral  turn, 
leads  in  its  excess  to  a numerous  class  of  sensuous  heresies. 

Such  being  the  well-known  proclivities  of  the  human  heart, 
it  pleased  our  Lord,  in  giving  His  Truth  to  men,  to  provide  at 
the  same  time  a divine  standing-point  from  which  the  Divine 
truth  was  to  be  regarded.  Those  who  believed  were  to 
be  baptized.  As  there  was  one  Spirit,  there  was  to  be  one  Body. 
Those  who  held  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles  were  to  hold  to 
their  fellowship.  The  Church,  in  short,  was  appointed  to  be 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  Truth. 

But  even  in  the  best  balanced  minds,  and  from  whatever 
ground  or  point  of  view,  there  will  be  more  or  less  of  a ten- 


Sensuous. 


78  History  of  the  Church. 

dency  to  one  or  other  of  the  extremes  above  mentioned.  In 
Necessary  this  life  wc  can  know  but  in  part;  we  can  see  but 
Differences,  tj-^j-ough  a glass  darkly.  According,  therefore,  to  the 
inherent  peculiarities  of  each  individual  nature,  there  will  be  a 
Three  dispositioii  to  look  at  Truth  through  the  sensuous,  the 
Leanings,  j-ational,  or  the  transcendental  glass,  and  thus  to  fall 
into  partial  or  heretical  opinions.  This  leaning,  however,  when 
guarded  and  controlled  by  mutual  charity,  and  by  a ground  of 
unity  sufficiently  defined,  is  not  only  harmless,  but  wholesome ; 
bringing  out  the  one  Truth  in  a greater  variety  of  aspects,  and 
making  it  intelligible  to  a greater  variety  of  minds. 

Of  this  wholesome  development  in  particular  directions, 
Types  OF  S.  John,  S.  Paul,  and  S.  Peter  were  the  most  promi- 
Doctrine.  representatives  in  Apostolic  times.  S.  John  de- 

lighted to  contemplate  the  absolute,  simple  Truth  : the  Truth  as 
seen  in  itself,  as  seen  in  God.  He  was  therefore  the  type  of  the 
theologian  or  divine.  S.  Paul  presented  the  Truth  rather  in  its 
manifold  relations  to  waywardness  and  weakness  of  the  human 
understanding."*  He  is  the  type  of  the  able  reasoner,  the  versa- 
tile expounder,  the  ready  controversialist,  the  profound  and 
skilful  teacher.  S.  Peter,  endowed  by  nature  with  affections 
intensely  human,  found  it  more  congenial  to  taste  the  Lord  as 
gracious,*’  than  to  behold  Him  with  eagle  eye  as  the  Light  and 
s.  John,  Life.  To  S.  John,  Christ  was  the  incarnate  Word  ” ; 
s.Paui.  to  S.  Paul,  ^^the  Apostle  and  High-Priest  of  our  pro- 
s.  Peter.  fession  ” ; to  S.  Peter,  ‘^the  Bishop  and  Shepherd  of 
our  souls.”  S.  John,  from  his  high  pitch  of  contemplation, 
addressed  the  body  of  believers  as  ‘Mittle  children  ” ; S.  Paul 
wrestled  with  them  on  more  equal  terms,  as  ‘^men”  and 
‘‘brethren”;  S.  Peter  singled  out  one  class  or  another,  as 

2 On  the  subject  of  this  paragraph  the  German  critics  have  shown  much 
solid  as  well  as  brilliant  ingenuity : some  of  them,  such  as  Baur,  with  a view 
to  magnify  different  ways  of  seeing  into  differences  of  belief.  To  the  student, 
who  will  take  the  pains  to  trace,  not  merely  the  different  modes  of  thought  or 
expression  among  the  sacred  writers,  but  their  wonderful  harmony,  the  study 
of  this  subject  will  be  found  well  worthy  of  attention. 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


79 


husbands,  wives,  masters,  servants,  elders,  juniors,  or  when  he 
addressed  them  as  a mass,  it  was  with  the  pastoral  word  be- 
loved/’ Without  entering  into  all  the  distinctions  of  this  kind, 
which  have  been  pointed  out  by  critics,  and  considerably  exag- 
gerated, it  may  be  observed,  in  short,  that  while  each  of  these 
great  teachers  presented  the  whole  and  living  Truth,  S.  John 
dwells  chiefly  on  the  Incarnation  as  a mysterious  whole,  a 
‘Might”  illumining  all  other  lights;  S.  Paul  on  the  Death  and 
Resurrection,  especially  the  latter,  as  the  logical  basis  of  all 
doctrine,  all  morals,  and  all  “glory”  ; S.  Peter  on  the  living, 
toiling,  suffering,  bleeding,  dying  Christ,  as  the  “precious” 
example,  the  precious  ransom,  the  irresistible  appeal  to  all  noble, 
earnest,  tender,  and  generous  affections.  To  these 
S.  James  is  sometimes  added,  as  representing  a fourth 
position.  To  judge  from  his  Epistle,  he  is  less  a representative 
of  doctrine  than  of  that  reactionary  appeal  to  conscience  and 
common-sense,  which  becomes  necessary  when  doctrinal  discus- 
sion has  gone  too  far ; when  orthodoxy,  in  fact,  is  made  a sub- 
stitute for  faith.  To  heated  polemics,  therefore,  in  times  of 
dogmatic  strife,  this  remarkable  production  has  seemed  a mere 
“epistle  of  straw. ”3  In  other  times,  and  under  other  circum- 
stances, amid  the  lip-worship  and  licentiousness  of  a self-seeking 
age,  it  comes  up  as  a sharp  point  of  that  ancient  rock  of  com- 
mon truth  underlying  all  religion,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

Differences  of  this  kind  may  be  allowed  for,  without  imagin- 
ing anything  analogous  to  separate  schools  or  parties  in  the 
Apostolic  Church.  Pauline  and  Petrine  factions  may 

Harmony 

undoubtedly  have  existed;  but  the  great  teachers  of  the 

. , . ^ , Apostles, 

knew  nothing  of  them,  except  to  repudiate  them. 

They  understood  themselves,  and  understood  one  another. 

It  may  be  observed,  moreover,  by  way  of  counterpoise  to 

3 Luther y in  his  impatience,  so  characterized  it.  It  was  under  other 
circumstances  that  Butler  and  Bull  drew  from  it  appropriate  lessons  for  the 
times.  Neander  is  so  unappreciative  of  this  Epistle  that  he  arbitrarily  sup- 
poses it  to  have  been  written  before  James  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  Gospel.  • 


8o 


History  of  the  Cht^^ch. 

the  distinctions  above  mentioned,  that  each  of  the  great  Apos- 
tles glides  occasionally,  in  his  style,  into  the  peculiarities  of  the 
others.  S.  John,  for  instance,  dwells  on  the  sensible  manifesta- 
Four  tion  of  the  Word  of  Life;  S.  Paul  frequently  pauses 

Gosj>eh.  admire  ‘‘the  mystery  of  godliness'';  S.  Peter 

speaks  of  “the  Word,"  that  is,  the  Truth,  as  the  regenerating 
power.  The  same  maybe  said  of  the  differences  of  the  four 
Gospels.  While  it  is  true  that  the  Man  and  Prophet  appears 
most  prominently  in  S.  Matthew,  the  King  in  S.  Mark,  the 
-Priest  in  S.  Luke,  and  the  essential  Deity  in  S.  John,-*  yet  there 
is  no  one  of  the  four  Evangelists  in  which  all  do  not  appear. 
There  are  distinctions,  in  short,  but  no  antagonisms. 

To  this  general  account  of  the  great  types  of  doctrinal 
development, 5 it  is  necessary  to  add  that  the  Apostles,  like 
their  Master,  were  seed-sowers  of  the  Truth,  not  fram- 

Sco^e  of 

Doctrinal  ers  of  systeius.  To  give  their  teaching,  therefore,  in 
other  language  than  their  own,  comes  hardly  within  the 
legitimate  province  of  the  historian.  The  attempt  has  been 
made,  indeed,  by  innumerable  modern  critics;  and  under  the 
heads  of  the  theology,  anthropology,  soteriology,  ecclesiology, 
and  eschatology  of  the  sacred  writers,  valuable  contributions 
have  been  made  to  the  cause  of  biblical  interpretation.  Yet 
none  of  these  efforts  represent,  or  in  the  nature  of  things  can 
represent,  more  than  the  amount  of  truth  seen  from  particular 
points  of  view.^  As  contributions  to  sacred  criticism  they  all 

4 Hence  the  application  to  the  four  Evangelists  of  the  four  faces  respec- 
tively of  the  “ living  creatures  ” in  the  Apocalypse,  the  man,  the  lion,  the  ox, 
the  eagle. 

5 The  word  development  has  been  much  abused  by  Dr.  Newman  and  oth- 
ers, in  modern  times ; yet  I know  of  no  word  to  substitute  for  it  in  the  history 
of  doctrine.  The  term,  in  fact,  is  harmless,  if  we  are  careful  not  to  confound 
development — which  is  the  opening,  defining,  and  applying  of  truths  con- 
tained in  Holy  Writ — with  corruptions  and  accretions  derived  from  other 
sources. 

^ Neander  is  one  of  the  largest-minded  and  most  genial  of  historic  critics 
of  this  kind;  yet,  in  his  “Planting  of  Christianity,” - S.  Paul,  S.  John,  S. 
Peter,  and  even  our  Lord  himself,  are  completely*Neanderized.  Thiersch, 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


8i 


Four 

Heads, 


have  their  value.  As  accounts  of  what  the  Apostles  taught,  in 
determination  of  questions  still  sub  lite,  they  are  worse  than 
useless ; giving  the  garb  of  historic  fact  to  things  which,  how- 
ever excellent  and  ingenious,  are  nothing  more  or  less  than 
private  and  modern  schemes  of  polemical  divinity. 

The  History  of  Apostolic  doctrine  must  confine  itself  to  a 
somewhat  narrower  range.  Not  what  systems  these  first  Teach- 
ers taught,  but  what  materials,  what  conditions,  what  Proper 
elements  they  left  of  systems  afterwards  drawn  from  ^a.nge. 
them,  or  put  upon  them,  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  attempted  in 
a narrative  of  facts. 

And  these  elements  may  all  be  considered  under  four  heads  : 
I,  The  Oral  Teaching,  or  tradition  of  the  Apostles;  2,  Their 
Creed,  or  Rule  of  Faith ; 3,  Their  Inspired  Writ- 
> ings  ; 4,  The  Heresies  against  which  they  contended, 
and  which  may  have  influenced  more  or  less  the  form,  style, 
manner,  or  particular  topics  of  their  teaching. 

The  Apostles  taught  orally.  Their  doctrine,  therefore,  had 
to  be  treasured  in  the  memories  of  believers.  If  we  consider 
how  vast  the  field  was,  and  how  many  of  the  laborers  i.  oral 
in  this  field  must  have  been,  like  Apollos,  imperfectly 
instructed,  it  will  not  appear  wonderful  that  a corrupt  tradition 
spread  almost  as  rapidly  as  the  true ; and  that  many  things  were 
attributed  to  Apostles  for  which  they  were  not  responsible. 
Thus,  S.  Paul  had  hardly  left  the  Church  of  Thessalonica  before 
he  learned  that  his  doctrine  of  Christ’s  coming  had 

° Tradition 

been  misunderstood.  In  the  same  way  the  traditions  soon 

corrupted. 

that  flowed  into  the  second  century  were  very  soon 
corrupted.  They  were  almost  invariably  alleged  in  favor  of 
doubtful  facts,  or  heretical  opinions.  Papias,  it  is  said,  took 
great  pains  to  collect  the  genuine  sayings  of  our  Lord.  But  few 
of  these  gleanings  have  remained  in  the  literature  of  the  Church 

in  the  same  way,  has  beautifully  Irvingized  the  Doctrine  of  the  Apostles;  a 
thing  which  would  be  less  objectionable  if  it  were  done  in  a professed  “ com- 
mentary,” or  in  an  Irvingite  tract,  and  not  under  the  garb  of  history.” 

7 See  Routh,  Reliq.  Sac.  vol.  i. 


82  History  of  the  Church. 

and  these  few  give  little  occasion  to  regret  that  the  rest  have 
perished. 

Tradition,  in  the  sense  of  the  general  spirit  or  drift  of  Apos- 
tolic teaching,  or  instructions  embodied  in  particular  observ- 
Tradition  auccs,  wcrc  of  a more  enduring  character,  and  exerted, 
in  general-,  doubt,  a greater  influence.  Thus,  the  sacred- 

ness of  the  Lord’s  Day,  the  practice  of  infant  baptism,  the 
authority  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  use  of  Creeds,  and  other 
things  of  like  character,  might  easily  remain  when  mere  words 
or  phrases  would  be  forgotten  or  perverted.  The  same  might 
be  said  of  everything  in  which  the  second  century  was  unani- 
mous. The  mind  of  an  age,  however,  is  so  entirely  assimilated 
by  the  age  which  follows,  that,  in  general,  tradition  means  little 
more  than  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  day  in  which  it  is 
appealed  to.  We  find,  accordingly,  that  even  in  matters  of  , 
practical  observance,  the  Apostolic  tradition  came  soon  to 
be  suspected,  unless  it  were  supported  by  Apostolic  writings.® 

The  first  bulwark  raised  against  the  corruption  of  tradition 
was  probably  in  the  form  of  a brief  Creed,  or  Rule  of  Faith. ^ 
II.  The  Something  of  this  sort  is  frequently  alluded  to  in  the 

Creed.  jsFew  Testament,  in  such  expressions  as  the  form  of 

sound  words,”  the  Gospel,”  or  evangel,  “ the  faith  once  (for 
all)  delivered  to  the  Saints,”  or  ‘‘  the  doctrine  ” into  which  they 
were  delivered  ” ; S.  Paul,  especially,  not  only  referring  to 
such  a Gospel  ” once  preached,  but  declaring  it  so  unalterable 
that  neither  he  nor  an  angel  from  heaven  could  deviate  from  it. 
The  natural  outline  of  this  summary  would  be  suggested  by  the 

® S.  Cyprian,  in  the  question  of  re-baptizing  heretics,  would  acknowledge 
no  tradition  but  that  which  he  found  in  Scripture. 

9 1 use  the  phrase,  as  a convenient  one,  without  any  reference  to  contro- 
versies on  the  subject.  In  the  common-sense  use  of  words,  anything  once 
fixed  as  a matter  of  belief  becomes  practically  a rule  of  faith.  The  brief  sum- 
maiy  of  fhe  Gospel,  therefore,  which  all  believers  received,  would  be  in  a 
peculiar,  but  not  exclusive  sense,  the  rule  of  faith.  See  Hagenbach,  Hist,  of 
Doctrines^  § 20. 

^°Rom.  vi.  17  ; literally,  “ the  type  of  doctrine  into  which  ye  were  deliv- 


ered.’ 


Doctrine  and  Heresies.  83 

first  formal  act  of  faith.  Every  person  admitted  in  the  Name 
of  the  Father^  and  of  the  So7t,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
into  the  Church  CatholiCyhy  Baptism,  for  the  Reinis- 
sion  of  Sins,  with  a view  to  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Dead  and  the  Life  everlasting,  would  of  course  be  required  to 
say  credo  to  all  this;  and  that  he  might  say  it  in  good 
faith,  would  be  instructed  into  its  meaning.  But  those  few 
words,  briefly  qualified  or  explained,  make  up  the  outline  and 
the  substance  of  the  Creeds  or  Symbols  of  all  ages.  Such  an 
outline,  moreover,  committed  to  memory  by  every  believer, 
would  be  a ‘^rule  of  faith that  is,  a touchstone  of  sound 
doctrine,  alike  available  to  learned  and  unlearned,  to  readers 
and  simple  hearers. 

In  the  absence  of  any  direct  evidence  to  the  contrary,”  it 
seems  most  probable  that  the  filling  up  of  this  outline  was  not 
always  in  the  same  words ; but  that  the  forms  of  symbols 
confession  were  marked  from  the  beginning  by  the 
same  diversity  in  language,  with  the  same  identity  in  substance, 
which  we  find  among  the  symbols  of  a somewhat  later  period. 
By  slight  verbal  variations  shades  of  meaning  might  be  expressed 
in  one,  which  were  not  contained  in  others.  Like  the  four 
Gospels,  or  the  four  ancient  Liturgies,  the  creeds  would  thus 
be  mutually  completed,  guarded,  and  explained. 

But  a safeguard  would  be  needed  against  corruptions  of  the 
Creeds  themselves ; and  still  more  against  corruptions  of  the 
larger,  more  diffuse,  and  more  minute  instructions  of 
the  Lord,  and  of  His  Apostles.  The  four  Gospels  there-  Sacked 

_ . 1 11  1 Writings. 

fore  were  written  ; not  early,  nor  all  at  once,  but  at  cer- 
tain intervals,  under  varied  circumstances,  by  different  writers, 
and  yet  with  a harmony  absolutely  demonstrative  of  a divine 
authorship.  Of  these  S.  Matthew’s  was  probably  put  forth  before 

Bp.  Bull  contends  for  two  primitive  Creeds — that  of  Jerusalem  in  the 
East,  and  that  of  the  Apostles  in  the  West.  I can  see  no  reason  why  there 
should  not  have  been  more.  On  the  general  subject,  see  History  of  Creeds, 
by  Rev.  W.  W.  Harvey,  M.A. ; and  Bingham’s  Antiquities  of  the  Christian 
Church,  X.  iii.  5. 


84  History  of  the  Church. 

the  Apostles  left  Jerusalem,  and  possibly  in  Hebrew,  or  Aramaic. 
Gospels.  S.  Mark’s,  indited  under  the  auspices  of  S.  Peter, 
is  of  uncertain  date.  S.  Luke’s,  and  its  continuation, 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  appear  to  have  been  written  either 
during  or  shortly  after  the  first  imprisonment  of  S.  Paul.  The 
Gospel  of  S.  John  was  stored  up  in  the  bosom  of  the  beloved 
Disciple  till  near  the  close  of  the  first  century.  We  learn  from 
S.  Luke  that  many  had  taken  in  hand  to  write  narratives  of  this 
kind  ; so  that  a bulwark  was  needed  against  unreliable  Script- 
ures, as  well  as  against  corrupted  forms  of  oral  tradition.*"* 

The  Catholic  Epistles  seem  all  to  have  been  the  fruit  of  the 
later  years  of  their  respective  writers.  The  Epistles  of  S.  Paul 
other  were  written  to  particular  Churches,  or  persons,  on 
Scriptures,  pa^rticular  emergencies ; and  may  be  dated  from  in- 
ternal evidence  with  considerable  precision. *3  The  Apocalypse, 
which  appeared  about  the  year  ninety-five,  has  been  appropri- 
ately placed  at  the  close  of  the  sacred  series  : its  splendid  and 
mystic  imagery  forming,  as  it  were,  the  great  Altar-window 
of  the  Temple  of  Inspiration. 

In  addition  to  these  sacred  writings,  the  Scriptures  of  the 
, , . , Old  Testament  were  earnestly  commended  to  the  first 

A llegorical 

interpreta-  age  of  believers,  as  inspired,  and  profitable  for  doc- 
trine; and  in  the  interpretation  of  them,  the  ^^testi- 
mony of  Jesus”  was  made  the  ‘^spirit  of  prophecy.”  The 
TheTesti  ^^^sequeuce  was,  that  ‘^the  rule  of  faith”  became 
many  of  also  the  rule  of  interpretation.  That  analogical  pro- 
spiritof  cess,  by  which,  in  reading  the  Old  Testament,  we 
almost  unconsciously  transmute  the  letter  into  the 
spirit,  seeing  Christ  everywhere,  became  the  fixed  habit  of  the 
Church  mind  ; and  occasionally  degenerated  into  frivolous  alle- 

*2  The  uninspired  writings  of  this  period  are  the  first  Epistle  of  S.  Clement, 
and  perhaps  the  second : possibly,  also,  the  Epistl  of  S.  Barnabas,  and  the 
Pastor  of  Hermas.  The  spurious  writings,  ascribed  to  this  age,  were  com- 
posed in  the  second  century,  or  later.  For  a list  of  them,  see  Foulkes’s  Man- 
ual of  Ecclesiastical  History. 

*3  See  Chap,  iv,  of  this  Book. 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


85 

gorizing.^^  The  historical  importance  of  this  fact  can  hardly 
be  overrated.  For  on  the  mode  of  interpretation  favored  by 
any  age,  its  theological  drift  is  in  a great  measure  determined. 
Tt  may  be  observed,  that  the  Gnostics  had  little  reverence  for  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures ; they  used  them  largely,  however, 
and  applied  both  to  them  and  to  the  writings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  allegorical  method.  But  their  allegorizing  was  purely 
arbitrary;  that  of  the  Christians  was  kept  within  bounds  by  the 
dominant  influence  of  ‘‘the  analogy  of  the  faith. In  both 
cases  it  was  application  of  the  Scriptures  rather  than  strict  inter- 
pretation. This  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  diverse  applications  of 
the  same  text,  so  long  as  they  did  not  contradict  the  commonly 
received  doctrines,  were  not  regarded  as  contradicting  one  an- 
other. 

In  the  Apostolic  age,  as  in  the  Church  since,  the  develop- 
ment, definition,  or  application  of  doctrine  waited  on  oppor- 
tunity, and  had  more  or  less  of  a defensive  character  iv. 

against  errors,  or  erroneous  tendencies  of  the  times. 

No  heretics  are  mentioned  by  name  in  the  New  Testament, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Nicolaitans;  and,  perhaps,  Hyme- 
naeus  and  Alexander,  whose  “shipwreck  of  faith, however, 
may  have  been  simple  apostasy.  The  Diotrephes,  censured  by 
S.  John  in  his  second  Epistle,  was  probably  an  ambitious  Pres- 
byter, or  a tyrannizing  Bishop.  Heretical  opinions  are  more 
frequently  alluded  to.  But  as  they  are  not  described,  and  are 
combated  only  in  their  elementary  principles,  it  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained how  far  any  of  them  had  assumed  a systematic  shape. 

Among  the  Greeks  and  philosophic  Jews,  there  was  an  arro- 

^4  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  exhibits  a severe  moderation  in  the  use  of 
this  method.  The  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  which  may  belong,  however,  to  the 
second  century,  indulges  in  it  with  the  utmost  freedom : so,  also,  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas.  The  Epistle  of  S.  Clement  and  the  Epistles  of  S.  Ignatius  show 
less  of  it.  S.  Irenaeus,  and  the  Fathers  after  him,  carry  it  occasionally  to 
excess.  Origen  developed  it  into  a more  systematic  shape. 

*5  For  ingenious  specimens  of  this  perversion,  see  Shnon  Magus  in 
Refuiat,  Omn.  Hceresiuni^  S.  Hippolyti,  lib.  vi. 


86 


History  of  the  Church. 


gant  and  pretentious  speculative  spirit,  which  judged  all  re- 
Gnosis  Ijgions  by  its  own  instincts  or  intuitions,  discerned 
some  good  in  all,  and  was  disposed  to  frame,  out  of 
materials  drawn  from  all,  a more  scientific  system.  By  the  vo- 
taries of  this  gnosts,  or  ‘‘  science  falsely  so  called,’’  the  principle 
Hvz'/zn  that  evil  inheres  in  matter was  an  axiom  universally 
Matter,  admitted.  They  despised  the  physical  world  as  the 
creation  of  some  inferior  and  perhaps  evil  Power.  The  body  they 
considered  a mere  incumbrance,  instead  of  holding  it  in  honor 
(as  something  pertaining)  to  the  completeness  of  our  humanity. 
The  Soul  They  regarded  the  soul  as  a sort  of  captive,  and  looked 
a Captive.  delivcrance  in  the  entire  destruction  of  the  body 

after  death,  and  during  life  in  complete  abstraction  from  it. 
Hence  great  austerities  among  some.  Hence  an  opinion  among 
others,  that  the  distinction  of  good  and  evil,  so  far  as  this 
world  is  concerned,  is  a mere  thesis,  or  arbitrary  appointment 
devised  by  evil  Powers.  Where  such  maxims  prevailed,  a denial 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  body^  or  an  assertion  of  a spiritual  res- 
urrection only,  would  necessarily  follow.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Incarnation  would  either  be  denied  or  subtly  explained  away. 

Among  efforts  of  this  kind  the  docetic  theory,  namely, 
Christ  a pure  spirit  with  a fantasmal  or  appari- 
tional  body,  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  popular. 
From  numerous  expressions  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  idea  of  a pleroma,  or  fulness  of  God’s  pres- 
ence, from  which  all  bodily  existence  is  excluded  of  endless 

Opposed  by  such  passages  as  i Tim.  iv.  4. 

^7  Such  seems  to  me  the  meaning  of  the  original  in  Col.  ii.  23  ; the  word 
translated  ‘‘  satisfaction”  being  equivalent  to  completeness,  and  that  rendered 
“ flesh  ” standing  often  (as  in  S.  John,  i.  14)  for  man, 

I Cor.  XV.  12. 

^9  To  which  S.  Paul  opposes  the  truth,  that  in  Christ  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  (pleroma)  dwells  bodily.  Col.  ii.  9.  This  chapter,  the  most  suggest- 
ive on  the  subject,  can  hardly  be  understood  without  careful  reference  to  the 
original.  Other  Anti-Gnostic  passages  are  (perhaps)  i Tim.  i.  4 ; iv.  1-5  ; vi. 
20;  I John,  i.  1-3;  iv.  1-3 ; 2 Peter,  ii. ; Jude.  See  Hammond,  on  the  New 
Testament. 


Docetce 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


87 

genealogies/^  that  is,  processions  or  emanations  of  c^ons,  angels ^ 
principalities y powers,  a long  chain  of  mediators  between  the 
world  and  God ; and,  in  short,  all  the  elementary  notions  which 
afterwards  entered  into  the  various  Gnostic  systems,  were  in 
vogue  among  the  Greeks  or  Hellenizing  Hebrews,  and  were 
started  into  activity  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

To  Simon  Magus,  a philosopher  and  wonder-worker  of  no 
ordinary  powers,  and  to  Samaria,  the  home  of  mixed  Simon 
races  and  mixed  creeds,  tradition  has  assigned  the 
earliest  attempt  at  a definite  Gnostic  system.  His  views  come 
down  to  us  encumbered  with  the  accretions  of  later  times. 
‘‘From  Sige,  Silence,  the  invisible,  incomprehensible,  sige. 
eternal  root  of  all  things,  sprang  two  mighty  powers  : the  one 
above  called  Nous,  the  universal  directing  mind,  which  Nous. 
is  of  the  male  sex ; the  other  below,  a female,  Epinoia,  Epinoia. 
or  intelligence,  by  which  all  things  are  generated.*’^  From 
these  two  roots  sprang  four  others,  similarly,  in  pairs.  The 
story  that  Simon  identified  Helen,  his  concubine,  with  Helen 
of  Troy  and  other  female  firebrands  of  antiquity,  and  made  her 
a sort  of  impersonation  of  that  “lost  sheep wandering  here 
below,  Epinoia  or  intelligence,  looks  like  a genuine  tradition, 
and  accords  with  the  radically  Antinomian  character  of  most  of 
the  early  sects.  To  him  the  world  was  evil,  society  evil,  mar- 
riage evil.  The  spirit,  therefore,  that  rebels  against  law  and 
order,  was,  from  his  point  of  view,  the  imprisoned  divine  spark 
struggling  to  be  free.  He  availed  himself  largely  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Old  Testament,  putting  his  own  meaning  upon  it : 
and  borrowed  from  Christianity  some  notions  of  redemption. 
He  represented  himself  to  be  the  great  Power  of  God — the 
Father  to  Samaritans,  the  Son  to  Jews,  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
Gentiles — come  into  the  world  for  the  recovery  of  the  “lost 
sheep. 

Dositheus  and  Menander  were  likewise  Samaritans,  and  en- 

20  Hippolytus  quotes  from  Simon  at  some  length ; and  his  account  of  the 
heresy  is  probably  the  most  accurate  that  has  come  down  to  us. 


88 


History  of  the  Church. 

deavored  in  like  manner  to  appropriate  to  themselves  the 
Dositheus,  character  of  redeemers.  The  Nicolaitanes/"  referred 
Apocalypse,  were  Gnostics  only  in  the  larger 
^anes.  sense  of  the  word  ; professing  that  kind  of  gnosis,  or 
superior  light,  which  makes  all  bodily  acts  indifferent,  and 
regards  all  things  as  lawful.  They  were  equally  opposed  to  the 
moral  and  the  ceremonial  law. 

Heresies  of  this  kind  sprang  from  the  indulgence  of  a pro- 
fane speculative  spirit.  They  are  interesting  as  showing  that 
Historic  the  advent  of  the  Gospel  did  not  find  the  world  slum- 
importance.  awake  and  completely  armed,  ready  not 

only  to  contest  every  inch  of  ground,  but  to  avail  itself  for  this 
purpose  of  weapons  drawn  from  the  armory  of  Christianity 
itself. 

Towards  sensuous  or  carnal  errors,  a class  which  tends  less  to 
contradict  than  to  overlay  and  corrupt  the  faith,  there  was  a 
Sensuous  most  decided  proclivity  among  the  Corinthian  Chris- 
Heresies.  . showing  itself  in  an  over-estimate  of  gifts, 

in  a tendency  to  man-worship,  in  party  and  sect  spirit,  in  desire 
to  judge and  reign,’’  and  in  a disorderly  state  of  things 
Sch'sm  generally.^  The  love  of  novelty  and  excitement  had 
much  to  do  with  this.  Towards  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury it  had  grown  to  such  an  extent  that  a large  party  in  Corinth 
proposed  to  make  the  ministry  not  only  an  elective,  but  a rota- 
tory office. The  same  spirit  showed  itself  elsewhere  in  fleshly 

They  got  their  name,  it  is  said,  from  Nicolaus,  one  of  the  seven  Dea- 
cons. See  Euseb.  iii.  29.  That  the  Antinomian  spirit  early  availed  itself  of 
pretensions  to  knowledge,  gnosis ^ which  exempted  its  possessors  from  ordinary 
restraints,  is  obvious  from  the  use  of  the  word  “knowledge”  throughout  the 
whole  of  I Cor.  viii. 

22  I Cor.  iii.  i,  3,  4,  21  ; iv.  3,  8,  18;  xi.  17-22  ; xiv.  26;  et passim  : the 
general  effect  of  heresy  of  this  sort  seems  to  be  intimated  in  i Cor.  iii.  12-15 ; 
it  does  not  oppose  the  fundamental  faith,  but  overbuilds  it  with  incongruous 
materials. 

23  Such  seems  to  me  the  most  rational  account  of  that  sedition  in  Corinth, 
against  which  S.  Clement’s  letter  was  written.  The  Corinthians  contended 
for  the  right  to  depose  Presbyters  without  any  crime  proven  against  them. 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


89 


notions  of  the  millennium,  and  of  the  nearness  of  Christ’s 
coming.  It  is  remarkable  that,  as  the  speculative  religionists 
dignified  their  Fancies  with  the  high-sounding  name  Gifts  over- 
of  gnosis,  so  the  carnal  Corinthians,  in  magnifying  '^a,iued. 
‘‘gifts”  and  splitting  up  into  parties,  seem  to  have  thought 
themselves  preeminently  “spiritual.”''^ 

The  Judaizing  spirit,  in  its  proper  and  pure  form,  seems  to 
have  been  of  a rationalistic  kind,  springing  from  low  and  earthly 
views  of  the  character  of  the  Messiah. In  Pharisee  Judaic 
and  Sadducee  alike,  it  was  captious  and  full  of  doubts, 

It  stumbled  especially  at  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  and  at  the 
Catholicity  of  His  mission.  It  was  always  demanding  “signs,” 
yet  slow  of  heart  to  believe  when  signs  were  given.  But  the 
Pentecostal  age  was  unfavorable  to  the  development  of  a spirit 
of  this  kind ; so  that,  beyond  a stubborn  prejudice  against  the 
mission  of  S.  Paul,  and  a disposition  to  linger  in  the  mere  ele- 
ments of  Christianity,  the  Judaizing  tendency  was  effectually 
kept  down.  The  sect  in  which  it  finally  showed  itself 
with  least  admixture  of  foreign  elements,  was  the  re- 
spectable but  little  known  society  of  the  Nazarenes.  Acquies- 
cence in  the  creed,  a cordial  reception  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  observance  of  the  Law,  adherence  to  the  Gospel  of  S. 
Matthew  to  the  exclusion  of  later  Scriptures,  and  an  undue  ele- 
vation of  morals  above  doctrine,  seem  to  have  been  its  promi- 
nent characteristics.  Of  the  three  stages  of  light  and 
knowledge  described  by  Origen — namely,  Jesus  the 
son  of  David,  Christ  the  incarnate  Son,  and  the  everlasting 
Word — the  Nazarenes  preferred  to  linger  in  the  first  and  lowest 
stage;  “they  were  blind  men,  forever  crying,  yesus,  Son  of 
David,  have  mercy  on  me.” 

As  a general  rule,  the  obstructive  Judaizers  either  yielded  to 

24  I Cor.  xiv.  37. 

25  The  real  drift  of  the  Judaic  spirit  is  seen  in  such  passages  as  S.  Luke, 
iv.  28;  xxii.  70,71;  S.  John,  iii.  9;  iv.  48;  v.  18;  vi.  52;  viii.  58,  59;  xix. 
7;  Acts,  vii.  52;  xi.  3;  xiii.  45  ; xv.  I;  xxii.  21,  22;  Heb.  iii.  3-6;  v.  11-14, 
and  vp  I ; Gal.  ii.  13,  16;  v.  1-6,  etc.,  etc. 


Nazarines^ 


Blind  Men. 


go  History  of  the  Church. 

the  demonstrations  of  power  which  accompanied  the  Gospel,  or 
were  drawn  into  a vortex  of  gnostic  and  sensuous  spec- 

Cerinthus.  , ^ ^ . 

ulations.  Hence  a form  of  gnosis^  which  was  a medley 
of  all  notions.  Cerinthus,  as  described  by  Epiphanius,  is  the 
type  of  this  class.  At  first  a ringleader  of  the  opponents  of  S. 
Paul,  but  disabled  and  not  a little  disgusted  at  the  course  of 
James  and  Peter  in  the  Council  at  Jerusalem,  he  continued  to 
maintain  in  part  the  inviolability  of  the  Law,  but  engrafted 
upon  it  germs  from  the  Samaritan  philosophy.  The  world  he 
represented  as  created  and  administered  by  lower  gods,  or  aeons. 
Christ  an  The  heavenly  Christ,  an  aeon  of  the  highest  order, 
descended  upon  the  blameless  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph 
and  Mary,  at  His  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  inhabited  Him  through 
life,  left  Him  on  the  Cross,  but  is  to  join  Him  once  more  and 
reign  upon  the  earth  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Millennium. This 
prurient  heresy,  which  Epiphanius  compares  to  the  two-headed 
hairy  serpent  Sepedon,  and  which  could  be  sheep  or  goat  at 
will,  using  the  Old  Testament  against  the  New,  or  the  New 
against  the  Old,  spread  like  a plague  in  Asia  Minor,  and  awak- 
ened the  particular  abhorrence  of  S.  John. 

The  Ebionites  were  probably  Jewish  Christians,  so  called 
from  an  affectation  of  poverty — the  word  Ebion  meaning  poor 
— or  from  a leader  of  that  name  : either  theory  being 

Ebion.  . ^ ° 

equally  probable,  and  equally  incapable  of  proof.  ^ To 
their  Judaizing  they  added  the  theory  of  Cerinthus.  They  are 
somewhat  inconsistently  described  as  very  strict  in  morals,  and 
decidedly  Antinomian;  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that 
their  name  covered  a considerable  variety  of  sects. 

Thus  the  corruption  of  Judaism  mingled  with  that  of  Hea- 

^ Euseb.  iii.  28.  Epiphan.  Hceres.  xxviii. 

27  The  learned  criticism  that  has  demolished  so  many  historical  characters, 
merely  because  their  names  happened  to  be  significant,  has  been  itself  demol- 
ished by  the  exquisite  jeu  d' esprit  of  Mr.  Rogers,  on  the  names  of  Newman, 
Wiseman,  Wilde,  Masterman;  to  which  might  be  added  Goode,  Golightly, 
Horsman,  and  sundiy  others  in  the  Tractarian  and  Papal  Aggression  contro- 
versies. See  Eclipse  of  Faith. 


Doctrine  and  Heresies. 


91 

thenism,  engendering  monstrous  dreams.  The  inspired  wisdom 
of  the  Apostles  dealt  little  with  heresy  as  developed  Error 
into  systems.  Writing  for  all  time,  they  combated  the 
evil  in  its  elements,  or  first  principles.  For  the  learned 
curiosity,  which  delights  to  trace  error  through  all  its  kaleido- 
scopic combinations,  they  had  neither  leisure  nor  inclination. 
In  the  provision,  however,  that  they  made  against  error,  we  see 
everywhere  the  proof  of  a forethought  more  than  human.  A 
rule  of  faith,  brief,  simple,  comprehensive,  stating  facts  rather 
than  dogmas,  and  stamped  on  the  heart  and  memory  of  each 
individual  believer;  a discipline  and  communion,  the  same 
everywhere;  and  finally,  a body  of  sacred  writings, 
easily  distinguished  from  all  spurious  and  apocryphal  agamst 
productions,  attested  from  without,  and  bearing  their 
own  witness  in  themselves,  were  precisely  the  things  needed  to 
separate  Church  doctrine  from  the  chaos  of  loose  opinions  with 
which  it  might  otherwise  have  been  hopelessly  confounded. 
The  times  that  followed  the  first  century  amply  demonstrated 
the  wisdom  of  such  threefold  provision.  As  heresy  organized, 
it  was  confronted  by  a mightier  organization,  prepared  at  every 
point  to  meet  it.  As  it  became  more  methodical,  and  more 
moral,  imitating  more  closely  the  tenets  and  discipline  of  the 
Church,  it  was  met  by  a harmony  and  unity  beyond  its  imita- 
tion. The  Church  system,  in  short,  was  one  that  took  in  the 
whole  man.  It  had  a spirit  and  a body.  It  was  equally  adapted 
to  heart  and  mind  and  soul.  On  whichever  side,  therefore, 
the  flood  of  heresy  might  come  in,  there  was  a barrier 
provided. 

In  this  respect,  the  Apostolic  Church  differs  from  all  human 
schools.  In  it,  more  than  in  any  rival  system,  order  and  liberty 
were  able  to  stand  together.  It  did  not  exclude  a 

. f.  . . ....  Peculiarity 

variety  of  standing-points  : it  simply  harmonized 
them.  Peter,  in  following  Christ  by  a life  of  adven- 
turous activity,  might  not  be  able  to  comprehend  precisely  what 
that  other  ‘‘man^’  was  doing,  who  sat  still  and  mused;  he 
might  find  in  brother  Paul  some  things  perplexing  to  him  : 


92  History  of  the  Church, 

but  there  was  one  fellowship,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  spirit, 
one  body,  one  hope ; and  if  there  was  any  point  in 
Standpoints  wliich  oueiiess  did  not  as  yet  appear,  it  was  as  easy  to 

harmonized,  i i t ^ u • tTrt 

distrust  one  s self,  as  to  distrust  God  s promise.  Where 
there  are  different  men,  there  are  differences  of  perfection,  dif- 
ferences of  attainment.  The  legitimate  course,  then,  is  ^Gvhereto 
we  have  attained,  to  walk  by  the  same  rule,  to  mind  the  same 
thing.”  In  short,  while  unity  of  faith  and  practice  was  thor- 
oughly provided  for  in  the  Apostolic  system,  it  was  not  so  pro- 
Truth  in  vided  as  to  exclude  the  necessity  of  charity,  humility, 
and  patience.  To  ‘‘speak  the  truth  in  love,”  or  as  the 
original  seems  to  mean,  to  “win  the  truth  by  love  ” was  to  be 
the  pervading  principle  of  all  genuine  orthodoxy. 


♦ 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RITES. — OBSERVANCES. — MORALS. 

Four  thousand  years  of  preparation  for  the  Church,  with  the 
ritual  education  of  the  chosen  people,  left  little  need  of  instruc- 
in  Ritual  tion  ill  the  decencies  of  Religion.  That  men  were  to 
^jndruction  revereiit  postures,  that  they  were  to  fast  at 

needed.  certain  times,  to  celebrate  festive  occasions  with  suit- 
able marks  of  joy,  to  assemble  for  common  prayer — in  short,  to 
make  worship  a social,  and  therefore  an  orderly,  uniform,  and 
duly  regulated  thing — was  sufficiently  understood  by  Jew  and 
Greek,  by  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond,  and  free.  Our  Lord, 
therefore,  in  His  teachings,  confined  Himself  mainly  to  the 
meaning  and  spirit  of  such  acts.*  Leaving  the  Church  to  clothe 
herself,  from  the  abundant  material  which  ages  of  devotion  had 
accumulated,  in  such  garments  of  external  sanctity  as  should  be 


* Matt.  vi.  i-i8. 


Rites. — Observances. — Morals. 


93 


Baptism. 


found  most  in  keeping  with  her  doctrine,  He  merely  set  an 
example  of  preferring  simple  to  complicated  forms ; of  conse- 
crating the  obvious  and  catholic  elements  of  nature,  rather  than 
symbols  of  a local,  national,  or  purely  conventional  character. 

Baptism,  that  is,  washing  with  water,  a symbol  of  spiritual 
cleansing  common  to  all  religions.  He  substituted  for  Circum- 
cision, as  the  rite  of  initiation,  or  new  birth,  into  the 
Divine  Name  and  Family.  The  addition  of  white 
robes,  salt,  lights,  exorcism,  renunciation,  unction,  crossing,  and 
other  graceful  and  significant  though  in  the  aggregate  cumbrous 
forms,  probably  came  in  by  degrees  during  the  post-Apostolic 
period.  As  in  the  case  of  Circumcision,  the  performance  of 
this  rite  was  not  confined  to  the  higher  orders  of  the  Ministry. 
It  is  possible  that  it  was  performed  for  the  most  part  by  immer- 
sion. Of  this,  however,  there  is  no  sufficient  proof. 

The  Breaking  of  Bread,  in  which  bread  and  wine,  the  uni- 
versal symbols  of  nourishment  and  refreshment,  were  consecrated 
a!s  means  of  spiritual  growth,  was  celebrated  commonly  The  Lord's 
on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  in  strict  conformity 
with  the  original  Divine  Institution.  Apostles  and  Presbyters 
were  ministers  of  this  sacrament.  The  Agape,  or  Love- 
feast,  was  at  first,  perhaps,  celebrated  with  it.  As  there 
was  danger,  however,  of  confusion  arising  from  this  practice,  the 
two  were  separated ; and  the  custom  grew  up  of  having  the  one 
in  the  morning  and  the  other  in  the  evening.  The  Agape,  in 
fact,  was  not  merely  a symbol  of  the  charity  of  believers.  It 
became  in  many  places  an  actual  daily  meal,  at  which  the  poorer 
brethren  partook  of  the  bounty  of  the  rich.  It  was  a memento 
of  that  Pentecostal  season  when  believers  lived  as  brothers  and 
had  all  things  common.  It  was  easily  abused,  however,  and 
finally  had  to  be  done  away.  Like  the  kindred  cere-  The  Kiss 
mony,  ^‘the  kiss  of  peace,^*  it  continued  just  long 
enough  to  show  that  even  Apostolic  customs  may  be  perverted ; 
that  the  choicest  plants,  by  neglect,  may  degenerate  into  weeds. 

The  Laying  on  of  Hands,  as  a seal  of  special  gifts,  was  known 
to.  the  ancient  Patriarchs,  who  thereby  confirmed  the  blessing 


The  Agape. 


94  History  of  the  Church. 

of  the  birthright ; was  practised  by  Moses  when  he  ordained 
Joshua  his  successor : and  was  sanctioned  by  our  Lord 

The  Lay^  ^ 

ing  on  of  for  acts  of  healing  or  of  blessing.  In  all  these  senses 

Hands.  . . 1 , rr^,  1 . 1 1 1 

it  was  continued  by  the  Apostles.^  1 hey  laid  hands 
on  all  who  had  been  baptized— a seal  of  the  spiritual  birthright, 
as  well  as  of  such  special  gifts’^  as  the  Spirit  dispensed  to 
each.  In  this  respect  it  has  been  aptly  termed  a kind  of  lay- 
ordination,  a setting  apart  to  that  ‘‘kingly  priesthood*’  in- 
herent in  all  believers.  It  was  also  the  usual  rite  of  ordina- 
tion proper.  Mission,  also,  was  given  in  this  way.^  Being 
eminently  a symbol  of  the  kingly  office,  it  was  commonly  ex- 
ercised, in  conformity  with  patriarchal  precedent,  by  the  highest 
order  of  the  Ministry:  Presbyters,  however,  concurring  and 
taking  part/ 

Unction,  a favorite  Eastern  symbol  of  the  healing  and  joy- 
inspiring  work  of  the  Spirit,  is  often  alluded  to  in  the  New 
jj  ^ Testament.  It  was  employed,  at  least  by  the  Jewish 
Christian  Church,  in  the  visiting  of  the  sick.s  There 
is  no  proof,  however,  that  it  was  during  the  first  century  made  a 
part  of  ordinary  ritual.  At  a later  period  it  was  added  both  to 
Baptism  and  to  the  Laying  on  of  Hands. 

Of  the  ordinary  accessories  of  public  worship,  the  Church 
inherited  from  the  Temple  and  Synagogue  an  abundant  store  of 
Public  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs.  These,  with 
Worship.  Lord’s  Prayer,  with  the  simple  baptismal  formula  of 
faith,  with  the  solemn  celebration  of  the  Lord’s  Supper  and  the 
Love-feast,  with  readings  from  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New, 
with  exercises  of  the  charismata,  and  with  such  special  prayers 
as  were  occasionally  prompted  by  particular  inspiration,  gave 
sufficient  variety  of  occupation  to  devout  hearts  and  minds. 
That  the  inspired  and  rapt  utterances  of  this  period  melted  into 
air,  benefiting  only  a single  generation,  is  not  altogether  prob- 
able. It  is  at  least  possible  that  the  unrivalled  and  inimitable 

2 Gen.  xlviii.  14;  Numb,  xxvii.  20-23;  Mark,  vii.  32;  xvi.  18;  Acts, 
viii.  19;  Heb.  vi.  2. 

3 Acts,  xiii.  3.  4 I Tim.  iv.  14;  2 Tim.  i.  6.  s James,  v.  14. 


Rites. — Observances. — Morals.  9 5 

beauty  of  Liturgic  language  derived  its  peculiar  bloom  from  Pen- 
tecostal times. ^ In  every  age  devout  feeling  can  clothe 
itself  in  words  more  or  less  appropriate.  It  is  not  in 
every  age,  however,  that  it  has  power  to  crystallize  into  imper- 
ishable gems.  This  belongs  rather  to  an  age  of  religious  and 
poetic  inspiration.  If  we  may  judge  from  the  descriptions  of 
heavenly  worship  in  the  Apocalypse,  or  from  the  peculiar  solem- 
nity with  which  the  antecedents  and  concomitants  of  the  Insti- 
tution of  the  Lord’s  Supper  are  given  in  the  Gospel  of  S.  John, 
the  mind  of  that  great  Apostle  was  eminently  liturgical ; and  to 
him,  probably,  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  the  devout  utter- 
ances which  still  resound  in  all  languages  from  the  one  end  of 
Christendom  to  the  other.^ 

Hours  of  prayer  probably  accorded  with  those  in  use  among 
the  Jews,  though  straitened  circumstances  soon  led  Hours  of 
to  nocturnal  or  ‘‘antelucan”  meetings.  Easter  and 
Pentecost,  with  a Fast  of  greater  or  less  duration  just  before 
Easter,  soon  came  to  be  observed.  Fasting  and  prayer  pasts, 
preceded  ordinations.  The  Lord’s  Day  took  the  place 
of  the  Sabbath,  though  the  latter  continued  to  be  LorcCsDay. 
respected  by  Oriental  Christians.  Places  of  prayer  Places. 
were  upper  rooms,  or  private  houses,  given  or  loaned  for  the 
purpose.  The  distinction,  however,  between  the  House  of  God® 
and  private  residences  was  not  suffered  to  be  forgotten. 

As  questions  of  propriety  or  of  particular  customs  arose,  the 
Apostles  settled  them  on  general  principles,  and  sometimes  in 
accordance  with  current  maxims  of  the  day.^  They  observ- 
were  careful  to  avoid  the  vice  of  excessive  legislation. 

Virginity  they  tolerated,  and  even  encouraged  but  always  with 
the  proviso  that  there  should  be  a natural  fitness  for  that  state. 

^ Specimens  of  Liturgic  language  are  to  be  found  all  through  the  New 
Testament;  ^.^.,Luke,  i.  46,  68;  ii.  14,  29;  Acts,  iv.  24;  Rom.  xvi.  24;  Rev. 
iv.  8;  V.  9;  xix.  1-7,  etc. 

7 See  Palmer,  Origines  LiturgiccB ; Bunsen’s  Hippolytus,  last  volume; 
Thiersch,  Apostol.  Ch. 

^ I Cor.  xi.  22. 


9 I Cor.  xi.  i-i6. 


*0  I Cor.  vii. 


96 


History  of  the  Church. 


A sceticisin. 


Ascetic  observances  were  in  like  manner  allowed ; but  with  a 
strict  understanding  that  these  things  should  in  nowise 
interfere  with  liberty  of  conscience.”  So  far  was  this 
respect  for  private  judgment  carried,  that  S.  Paul  did  not  even 
enforce  the  decree  of  the  Council  at  Jerusalem,  with  regard  to 
meats  offered  to  idols,'^  as  an  absolute  law.  He  preferred  that 
in  all  such  matters  men  should  judge  for  themselves. 

The  morals  of  the  Apostolic  Church  were  framed,  of  course, 
on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or  on  the  example  of  the  life  of 

^ Jesus  Christ.  By  the  help  of  persecution,  and  in  the 
freshness  of  first  love,  there  was  perhaps  a more  gen- 
eral approximation  to  this  high  standard  than  Christendom  has 
since  exhibited.  A community,  however,  just  rescued  from  the 
stews  of  idolatry,  and  which  lived  in  a moral  atmosphere  reek- 
ing with  heathen  abominations,  was  subject  to  terrible  lapses  at 
times,  followed  by  gusts  of  passionate  repentance. In  such 
cases  delinquents  were  cut  off  from  communion,  but  not  from 
hope."^  The  Christians  in  Corinth  were  either  worse  than  in 
other  places,  or  being  more  tenderly  loved  by  S.  Paul  were  more 
sharply  reprehended.  In  the  Jewish  Christian  Church,  and  in 
many  of  the  Churches  in  Asia  Minor,  there  was  a rapid  decline. 
It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  the  light  which  reveals  the 
faults  of  that  period  is  the  pure  white  light  of  uncompromising 
truth;  and  that  many  of  the  sins  into  which  Christians  fell  were 
such  as  the  best  heathen  hardly  considered  sins  at  all.  What 
S.  Paul  looked  upon  as  abominable,  Cato  would  have  regarded 
as  natural  and  proper. 

With  social  and  political  problems  the  Church  did  not 
concern  itself.  Taking  the  framework  of  society  as  it  was,  it 
^Social  aimed  to  introduce  into  the  relations  of  rulers  and 
Problems,  g^bjects,  fathers  and  children,  husbands  and  wives, 
masters  and  slaves,  the  golden  rule  of  charity.  This  being 
present,  society  would  regulate  itself.  This  being  absent,  no 

Rom.  xiv.  *2  I Cor.  x.  18-33.  2 Cor.  vii.  ii. 

The  case  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  was  an  instance  of  divine  sever- 
ity ; not,  as  is  sometimes  represented,  of  Church  discipline. 


Hites. — Observances. — Morals. 


97 


mechanical  readjustment  would  answer  a good  purpose.  Such 
absolute  indifference  to  political  theories  in  a movement  so 
mighty,  so  deep,  so  intellectual  as  Christianity,  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  of  its  early  progress.  Regarding  each 
relation  of  life  as  a particular  divine  calling,  it  infused,  jm 
however,  a new  element  into  each.  Celibacy  was  to  tionshai- 

. , . lowed. 

be  hallowed  by  special  devotion  to  God  s service. 

Marriage  was  to  be  elevated  by  embracing  it  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord’s  union  with  the  Church.  Masters  and  slaves,  as  brethren, 
were  to  serve  one  another.  High  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  bond 
and  free,  were  all  to  be  regarded  as  pilgrims  in  this  world,  jour- 
neying to  one  end,  running  one  race,  looking  forward  to  one 
prize;  for  the  final  attainment  of  which  the  worst  position  in 
life  has,  in  some  respects,  advantages  over  the  best."^ 

*5  I Cor.  vii.  17,  20,  29-31 ; Luke,  vi.  20.  The  TherapeutcBy  according  to 
Philo  Judaeus,  on  the  ground  that  “ nature  has  created  all  men  free,”  regarded 
“ the  possession  of  slaves  as  wholly  contraiy  to  nature,”  and  lived  on  terms  of 
mutual  equality  in  all  things.  Menial  offices  were  performed  by  them  in 
turns. 


5 


/ 


J' 


AGE  OF  MARTYRS  AND  DOCTORS: 


^FROM 

THE  DEATH  OF  S.  JOHN 

TO  THE 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  ALEXANDRINE  SCHOOL. 


A.D.  100-232 


Book  II 


CHAPTER  I. 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  SECOND  CENTURY. 

In  the  history  of  the  Church,  as  indeed  in  all  history,  there  are 
from  time  to  time  certain  half  hours,  as  it  were,  of  silence  in 
Heaven ; certain  seasons  of  unpretending  but  fruitful  prepara- 
tion for  the  opening  of  the  seals  of  a new  order  of  events. 

Such  a season  occurred  during  the  latter  end  of  the  first 
century  and  the  beginning  of  the  second,  when  S.  John  either 
in  person  or  in  spirit  was  still  presiding  over  the 
Churches  of  Asia  Minon  As  compared  with  the  out-  of  Silent 

• • 1 1 Growth. 

going  vigor  of  the  Pentecostal  age,  it  was  an  interval 
of  silence — of  quiet  and  obscure,  though  indefatigable  industry 
in  carrying  on  the  work  previously  begun.  Though  much  was 
done  and  much  suffered,  little  was  originated  during  this  period. 
Concentration,  not  expansion,  was  the  order  of  the  day.  Few 
enterprises  were  undertaken,  few  brilliant  minds  arose.  The 
mighty  leaders  of  the  Pentecostal  age  had,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  departed  to  their  rest ; and  those  who  came  into 
their  place,  being  well  content  to  labor  upon  other  men’s  founda- 
tions, and  in  their  doctrine  having  little  need  or  wish  to  depart 
from  the  exact  words  of  Apostolic  teaching,  left  but  scanty 
traces  of  their  lives  for  history  to  record. 

Christianity,  indeed,  presented  such  a picture  at  this  time  as 


102 


History  of  the  Church. 

that  suggested  by  our  Lord  in  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
The  Seed  parablcs  of  the  Kingdom.  The 

growing  soil  of  heathenism  having  been  duly  broken  up,  and 

in  secret.  ^ ^ ^ ^ ' 

the  seed  cast  in,  the  great  bower  had  gone  His  way, 
and  was  slumbering,  as  it  were  : the  seed,  the  meanwhile,  spring- 
ing and  growing  up,  no  one  noticed  how.  Or,  its  general 
appearance  might  be  likened  to  the  quiet  but  steady  process  of 
, the  finishing  of  the  Temple.  The  stones  and  timbers 

The  Temple 

rising  in  of  the  Spiritual  edifice  had  been  hewn  and  shaped, 

each  for  its  own  appointed  place,  by  inspired  Master- 
builders.  What  remained  for  those  immediately  coming  after 
was  with  noiseless  industry  to  go  on  in  the  line  made  ready  to 
their  hands,  and  to  carry  out  the  plan  which  had  been  divinely 
set  before  them. 

It  was,  in  short,  a kind  of  breathing  spell  between  two 
periods  of  extraordinary  energy  and  activity  in  the  Church. 
A breath-  The  sun  had  set  upon  a great  and  busy  day  of  mis- 
ing spell,  sionary  zeal;  it  was  destined  soon  to  rise  upon  an 
equally  busy  day  of  polemical  excitement.  In  the  interval 
between  there  is  a veil  upon  the  Churches ; under  which,  as  we 
learn  from  the  results,  there  was  a vigorous  life  working,  but 
through  which  it  is  impossible  to  discern  aught,  save  here  and 
there  the  figure  of  a Watchman  or  a Witness : a mere  token  to 
posterity  that  the  remarkable  stillness  of  the  period  was  not  of 
death,  but  of  growth. 

S.  John  departed  to  his  rest  about  the  beginning  of  the  cen- 
tury ; S.  Clement  of  Rome,  and  S.  Symeon,  the  second  Bishop 
^ Jerusalem,  a little  while  later.  In  the  great  Prov- 

ami^other  ince  of  Syria,  S.  Ignatius  kept  alive  the  teaching,  and 
exercised  ^‘the  gift,’*  which  more  than  thirty  years 
previously  he  had  received  from  the  three  chief  Apostles.  In 
Asia  Minor,  S.  Polycarp  was  treasuring  the  sacred  lore  which 
sixty  years  afterwards  he  transmitted  to  a new  era  of  the  Church. 
So,  in  other  parts,  a few  witnesses  remained  to  testify  of  the 
wonders  of  Apostolic  times.*  Ammias  and  Quadratus  were 
* Euseb.  Ecc.  Hist.  iii.  37-39. 


Beginning  of  the  Second  Century.  103 


Trajan. 


reverenced  as  Prophets.  Others  were  still  known  for  evangelic 
gifts.  There  were  doubtless  others  also,  such  as  Papias  Evan- 
the  Millenarian,  who  corrupted  the  tradition  they  had  Prophets. 
received  from  the  Apostles,  and  fostered  a secret  undergrowth 
of  superstition  and  false  doctrine. 

The  profligate  Domitian,  whose  name  is  connected  with  the 
second  of  the  general  Persecutions — whose  rage,  how-  Domitian. 
ever,  spent  itself  indifferently  upon  Jews,  philosophers,  Nervay 
and  every  one  that  had  a claim  to  any  sort  of  merit — 
was  succeeded  by  Nerva;  and  he  towards  the  end  of  the  first 
century  by  the  virtuous  Trajan. 

The  latter  was  induced  by  his  reverence,  real  or  pretended, 
for  the  gods  of  the  Empire,  to  give  ear  to  the  vile  calumnies 
which  continued  to  be  circulated  against  his  Christian 
subjects,  and  to  indulge,  if  not  to  foster,  the  spirit  of 
persecution.  The  secrecy  forced  upon  believers  by  the  frivolity 
as  well  as  cruelty  of  the  world  around,  afforded  un-  Third 
doubtedly  ^ handle  against  them.  What  innocence  plrZ^u- 
wore  for  a veil,  might  easily  be  assumed  as  a mask  for 
guilt.  Few  heathen  magistrates  would  distinguish  between  the 
holy  rites  of  the  Gospel  and  the  foul  abominations  of  Gnostic 
sects,  when  both  were  covered  over  with  the  same  impenetrable 
cloud."*  Trajan  seems  to  have  taken  no  pains  to  inquire  into  the 
distinction.  By  renewing  certain  edicts,  almost  become  obsolete, 
against  secret  societies  and  assemblies,  he  gave  full  scope  Secret 
to  the  rage  of  the  rabble  so  that  wherever  Christians  Societies. 
came  together  for  worship,  they  were  liable  to  be  seized,  put  to 
the  torture,  and  summarily  condemned,  as  enemies  of  the  State 
and  despisers  of  the  majesty  of  the  Emperor. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Pliny  the  Younger,^ 


2 On  the  state  of  the  Roman  law  with  regard  to  persecution,  see  Jeremie, 
Hist,  of  the  Christian  Church.^  ch.  ii.  and  notes;  also  ch.  i.  \ 3. 

3 Eusebius  attributes  this  persecution  to  popular  fury.  History,  lib.  iii.  32. 

4 The  genuineness  of  these  letters  of  Pliny  has  been  disputed,  but  is 
admitted  by  the  great  majority  of  learned  writers.  See  Lardner’s  Jewish  and 
Heathen  Testimonies,  and  Gierig’s  edition  of  Pliny  the  Younger  (tom.  ii. 


104 


History  of  the  Church. 


being  appointed  Governor  of  Bithynia,  a province  evangelized 
pvtiythe  Apostolic  times,  undertook  for  a while  to  carry  out 
Younger.,  the  law  in  all  its  rigor.  He  became  convinced,  how- 
.104110.  YiQ  had  assumed  was  beyond  his 

strength.  To  put  all  the  Christians  to  death  was  to  run  a risk 
of  depopulating  large  portions  of  his  province.  He  found, 
moreover,  that  the  veil  of  secrecy  in  which  the  Christians  en- 
shrouded their  sacred  rights,  covered  nothing  capable  of  a 
criminal  construction.  The  temples  of  the  gods,  indeed,  were 
beginning  to  be  deserted,  and  victims  had  almost  ceased  to  be 
Dec  y of  upon  their  altars.  Christianity  was  becoming 

Heathen  the  prevalent  religion. s But  as  to  its  votaries,  Pliny, 
on  diligent  inquiry,  having  examined  certain  apostates 
who  volunteered  their  evidence,  and  having  put  to  the  torture 
two  deaconesses,®  could  learn  nothing  against  them,  except,  as 
he  expressed  it,  their  perverse  and  extravagant  superstition. 
They  meet  before  sunrise,  he  writes,  on  a certain  day.  They 
sing  hymns  responsively  to  one  another  in  praise  of  Christ  as 
God. 7 They  bind  themselves  together  by  a sacrament ; not, 
Christian  however,  for  any  criminal  purpose,  but  as  a mutual 
Worship,  pledge  against  theft,  adultery,  breach  of  trust,  and  the 
like : all  which  being  ended,  they  break  up  for  a while,  and 
afterwards  reassemble  for  a sociable  and  innocent  repast. 

So  Pliny  wrote  to  the  Emperor — an  accurate,  though  some- 
what meagre  outline  of  Christian  life  and  worship.  The  term 
Term  sacramentuM^  which  he  employs  to  designate  the  chief 

Sacra-  . . , 1 

ment.  act  of  communion,  is  a word  of  large  meaning,  cover- 
ing anything  from  a simple  verbal  oath,  in  the  modern  sense. 


498-519) ; also  Gieseler,  J 33,  n.  7.  Pliny’s  questions  to  the  Emperor  were 
(i)  whether  any  distinction  of  sex,  age,  etc.,  should  be  made;  (2)  whether 
place  of  penitence  should  be  allowed;  (3)  whether  the  mere  name  of  Chris- 
tian should  be  punished,  or  some  crime  should  be  proven ; (4)  whether  any 
search  was  to  be  made  for  them. 

5 Lucian,  Pseudomant.  25,  represents  the  false  prophet  as  complaining 
that  “ Pontus  was  full  of  atheists  and  Christians.” 

<5  <<  Ex  duabus  ancillis  quae  ministrce  dicebantur.” 

7 <<  Carmenque  Christo  quasi  deo  dicere  secum  invicem.” 


Beginning  of  the  Second  Century,  105 

to  the  most  elaborate  and  impressive  ceremonial.  Pliny’s  ac- 
count,  therefore,  drawn  as  it  was  from  the  reluctant  confes- 
sions of  persons  under  torture,  though  correct  as  to  the  general 
order  of  Church  customs  in  his  day,  is  of  very  little  value  with 
regard  to  particulars.  These  were  probably  concealed ; or,  if 
they  were  divulged,  Pliny  was  not  a man  to  think  them  worth 
mentioning  in  a formal  communication  to  the  Emperor. 

For  the  rest,  the  candid  and  philosophic  governor  freely  bore 
witness  to  the  general  good  conduct  of  the  persecuted  sect,  and 
to  their  peaceable  behavior.^  The  vigorous  measures,  Q^odCon 
however,  which  he  had  pursued  against  them,  were  not  duct  of  the 

. . rr  -K  r it  ^ ChristiatlS. 

Without  effect.  Many,  under  the  pressure  of  perse- 
cution, dissembled  their  belief.  The  assemblies  for  worship 
were  less  frequently  held,  or  more  carefully  concealed.  The 
heathen  gods  began  once  more  to  be  honored  by  obsequious 
crowds.^  On  the  other  hand,  the  Emperor,  somewhat  mollified 
by  the  representations  of  Pliny,  allowed  the  persecu-  Trajan 
tion  to  assume  a milder  form.  None  should  be  pun- 
ished,  he  decreed,  but  those  regularly  convicted ; anonymous 
accusations  should  be  rejected  ; those  who  were  brought  to  trial 
by  responsible  accusers,  might  be  allowed  to  clear  themselves 
by  worshipping  the  gods ; but  for  such  as  remained  quiet,  there 
should  be  no  rigorous  inquiry. 

The  effect  of  this  decree  was  to  blunt  somewhat  the  edge  of 
persecution.  But  when  such  a man  as  Pliny  could  regard  the 
conscientious  firmness  of  believers  as  an  offence  worthy 

Believers 

of  the  rack,  and  when  such  an  Emperor  as  Trajan  ^ stui 
could  sanction  capital  punishment  in  cases  which  he 
deemed  undeserving  of  serious  inquiry,"®  there  could  be  no  lack 


2 This  testimony  was  the  more  reliable  from  the  fact  that  it  was  drawn  in 
part  from  persons  who  had  apostatized  “ some  three  years,  and  one  or  two 
twenty  years  before.” 

9 Pliny  inferred  from  this  that  a great  number  of  Christians  might  be  won 
over  from  their  faith,  if  place  of  repentance  ” were  given. 

Tertullian  vehemently  censures  the  Emperor  on  this  account.  Apologet, 
ii.  Mosheim  apologizes  for  Trajan,  but  the  defence  is  an  extremely  lame  one; 


io6  History  of  the  Church. 

of  informers  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  unjust  judges  on  the  other, 
to  procure  accusations  and  convictions,  and  to  keep  the  sword 
continually  suspended  over  the  heads  of  at  least  the  chief  leaders 
of  the  Church.  Many  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  populace. 
Symeon^  Some  Were  put  to  death  by  the  order  of  Trajan  him- 
self.  Among  others,  Symeon  the  second  Bishop  of 
(about)  107.  Jerusalem  has  been  already  mentioned.  His  successor, 
Justus,  likewise  obtained  the  martyr’s  crown. 

But  the  flower  of  the  noble  army  of  witnesses  for  Christ  at 
this  period  was  found  in  the  person  of  S.  Ignatius,  surnamed 
Ignatius  of  Theophorus,  the  Apostolic  Bishop  of  the  Church  of 
Antioch,  Antioch.”  He  was  a well-known  disciple  of  the 
Apostle  S.  John.  Associated  for  a while  with  S.  Euodius, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  the  year  sixty-eight,  and  holding  the 
Mother  See  of  the  Church  in  Syria,  he  was  virtually  the  head, 
or,  as  S.  Chrysostom  styles  him,  the  Apostle  of  that  important 
province.  As  such  he  became  a shining  mark  for  the  arrows  of 
persecution. 

The  precise  time  of  his  martyrdom  has  been  much  disputed, 
some  placing  it  in  the  ninth,  others  in  the  nineteenth  year  of 
Before  reign  of  Trajan.  It  i^  only  known  that  Trajan, 

Trajan,  elated  with  his  victories  over  the  Scythians  and  Da- 

A,D.  I16.  . . , 

Clans,  and  about  to  engage  in  an  expedition  in  the 
East,  halted  at  Antioch  on  his  way,  and  showed  a disposition 
to  afflict  the  Christians.  The  Bishop,  with  a noble  anxiety  to 
shield  his  flock,  fearlessly  repaired  to  the  imperial  presence. 
Trajan  said  to  him : “ What  cacodaemon  (that  is,  ill-starred 
wretch)  art  thou,  engaged  in  perverting  other  people?”  Igna- 
tius answered  : None  can  call  Theophorus  caco- 

Theojhorus. 

daemon,  for  the  daemons  keep  away  from  the  servants 
of  God.  But  if  thou  callest  me  cacodaemon  because  I am  hos- 

attributing  his  ‘‘  inconsistency  ” to  fear  of  “ the  priests  and  the  multitude,”  and 
not  to  “ superstition.”  Comment,  vol.  i.  8,  etc.  Neander  defends  him  on 
somewhat  better  grounds. 

“ S.  Clement.  Rom.,  S.  Ignat.,  S.  Polycarp.,  Patrum  Apostol.,  etc.  Oxon. 
1838. 


Beginning  of  the  Second  Century.  107 

tile  to  the  daemons,  I confess  it.  Having  Christ  the  King 
of  Heaven  on  my  side,  I dispel  their  snares.*'  Trajan  said: 
‘‘What  is  the  meaning  of  Theophorus?"  Ignatius  replied: 
“One  who  bears  Christ  in  his  heart.”  “But,”  said  the  Em- 
peror, “ do  not  we  in  that  sense  bear  the  gods,  who  fight  with 
us  against  our  enemies?”  Ignatius  answered  : “The  daemons 
of  the  Gentiles  are  no  gods.  There  is  but  one  God,  who  made 
heaven  and  the  earth  and  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  therein ; and 
one  Christ  Jesus,  His  only  begotten  Son,  whose  kingdom  may  I 
attain  ! ” The  sentence  of  death  soon  followed:  “We  His 

command  Ignatius,  who  says  he  bears  about  the  Cruci- 
fied  with  him,  to  be  conducted  to  Rome  by  a military  guard ; 
there  to  be  thrown  to  wild  beasts  as  a spectacle  for  the  people.” 

That  the  fact  of  his  punishment  might  be  as  widely  known 
as  the  noble  victim  himself,  he  was  taken  to  the  city  by  the 
longest  way.  The  result  was  very  different  from  what  His 

the  Emperor  probably  intended.  It  enabled  the  Mar- 
tyr  to  give  an  example  of  faith  and  courage  much  needed  at  that 
time  for  the  feebler  class  of  believers.^"'  Everywhere  met  by 
troops  of  zealous  friends,  he  vindicated  his  claim  to  the  title 
Theophorus,  and  to  his  own  noble  maxim,  “ My  love  hath  been 
crucified.”  A Divine  influence  accompanied  him  from  city 
to  city.  In  his  person  the  Cross  seemed  to  be  again  uplifted. 
Everywhere  he  took  care  to  season  his  conversation  with  salt, 
writing  epistles  to  the  Churches,  dropping  words  of  hope  and 
comfort  upon  the  multitudes  who  thronged  to  see  him,  calling 
his  chains  his  spiritual  jewels,  and  enlivening  the  gravity  of  his 
discourses  with  a chaste  vivacity  peculiarly  his  own.  In  this 
latter  respect,  S.  Ignatius  was  among  the  sprightliest  as  well  as 

*2  The  “ fears’’  of  Ignatius  for  his  flock  were  probably  not  a mere  dread 
of  the  sufferings  they  might  have  to  undergo,  but  an  anxiety  lest  they  should 
fall  away.  For  all  Christians  were  not  equally  courageous.  Such  occasional 
examples  as  that  of  Ignatius  were  necessary,  no  doubt,  to  nerve  the  faith  and 
courage  of  the  more  timid  crowd.  This  being  considered,  the  eagerness  for 
martyrdom  displayed  by  this  noble  confessor  is  defensible  on  rational  grounds. 
When  Polycarp  suffered,  a half  century  later,  circumstances  were  different 
and  a different  course  was  advisable. 


io8  History  of  the  Church. 

holiest  of  martyrs.  From  his  adamantine  soul,  as  the  Greeks 
describe  it,  the  waters  of  an  almost  playful  fancy  were  contin- 
ually welling  up.  His  military  guard  he  compared  to 

His  Sallies.  j 

‘‘ten  leopards,’^  which,  the  kinder  he  was  to  them, 
became  only  the  more  wanton.  The  jaws  of  the  lions  which 
awaited  him  in  the  Roman  Amphitheatre  he  regarded  as  a mill 
which  was  to  grind  his  wheat  into  an  offering  of  fine  flour  unto 
the  Lord.  With  sallies  of  this  kind,  with  stirring  exhortations, 
with  grave  advice,  and  with  a face  which  the  ancients  describe 
as  radiant  with  joy,  he  made  his  journey  to  the  great  Metropolis 
a genuine  Christian  ovation. 

He  was  thrown  to  the  lions  in  the  Roman  Amphitheatre  on 
the  great  popular  Feast  of  the  Saturnalia.  The  whole  city 
Final  flockcd  together  on  such  occasions.  It  was  providen- 
tially  ordered,  therefore,  that  when  the  courageous  old 
man  descended  into  the  arena,  he  was,  more  conspicuously  than 
any  of  the  martyrs  before  or  after  him,  “a  spectacle  unto  the 
whole  world,  even  to  angels  and  to  men.^^  Long  before  his 
arrival  at  Rome,  he  had  had  the  consolation  of  learning  that  his 
Church,  which  he  had  committed  to  the  special  charge  of  his 
friend  Polycarp,  was  no  longer  subject  to  persecution. 

Of  his  body,  torn  and  mangled  by  the  lions,  a few  relics  are 
said  to  have  been  collected  by  the  diligence  of  his  friends. 
///j  The  nobler  legacy  that  he  left  to  posterity  in  his  fa- 

Remains.  Epistles,  has  been  more  severely  handled.  In 

such  portions,  however,  as  have  survived  the  fury  of  a long  and 
searching  controversy,*^  whether  we  take  the  seven  Epistles  corn- 
's In  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  he  expresses  a hope  that  nothing  might 
be  left  to  be  a trouble  to  his  friends  : that  he  might  disappear  to  the  world  to 
appear  with  Christ : that  he  might  set  to  the  world  to  rise  with  Christ. 

The  asperity  of  certain  critics  towards  this  father  does  not  seem  to  have 
abated,  if  one  may  judge  from  two  recent  examples.  The  first  is  Bunsen. 
The  word  Sige,  it  appears — a Valentinian  Gnostic  term  for  God — in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Trallians,  was  for  a long  while  considered  an  anachronism,  and 
was  used  as  an  argument  against  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistle.  The  recent 
discovery  of  the  works  of  Hippolytus  has  proved  that  the  tenn  was  used  by 
Simon  Magus : the  anachronism  and  the  argument,  therefore,  fall  to  the 


Beginning  of  the  Second  Century.  109 

monly  received,  or  the  briefer  fragments  of  the  Syriac  transla- 
tion, there  are  unmistakable  marks  of  his  character  and  genius. 
Their  freshness  and  originality  is  such  as  we  find  in  no  other 
of  the  Apostolic  fathers.  The  style  is  terse,  sparkling,  and 
sententious.  With  allusions  everywhere  to  the  sense  of  Holy 
Scripture,  but  with  few  literal  quotations,  and  possessing  to  a 
remarkable  degree  that  quickness  of  spiritual  discernment  which 
hearkens,  as  he  happily  expresses  it,  to  the  silence  of  fFesus,  Igna- 
tius wrote  with  a soul  still  moist  with  the  morning  dew  of  the 
first  outpouring  of  the  Spirit.  Between  the  age  of  His 

inspiration  and  the  era  of  reflective  and  discursive 
thought  which  marked  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  he  is  one 
of  the  most  valuable  of  the  connecting  links. 

The  testimony  he  bore  to  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  his 

ground.  Bunsen  is  forced  to  acknowledge  this ; but  instead  of  candidly  con- 
fessing the  error,  he  turns  upon  Bishop  Pearson  for  contending  (as  he  had  a 
right  to  do  before  the  recent  discoveries)  that  Ignatius  used  the  word  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  and  not  in  the  Gnostic.  See  B.’s  Hippol.  vol.  i.  p.  59.  The 
second  instance  is  Dr.  Schaff.  The  latter  acknowledges  the  genuineness  of 
the  seven  Epistles ; but,  wishing  to  find  fault  somewhere,  accuses  the  noble 
martyr  of  “ something  offensive,”  because  he  exhorts  his  friend  Polycarp  to 
be  “ more  studious,  ....  more  zealous,  ....  and  to  flee  the  arts  of  the 
DevilP  Dr.  Schaff  forgets  that  mutual  exhortation  was  by  early  Christians 
considered  a duty,  and  that  Bishops  were  as  willing  to  be  warned  against  “the 
arts  of  the  Devil  ” as  the  humblest  catechumen.  In  the  same  way,  the  mar- 
tyr’s earnestly  expressed  wish  that  the  Romans  would  not  seek  to  save  him 
from  martyrdom,  but  would  rather  pray  for  him  that  he  might  be  found  a 
sacriflce  to  God,  is  set  down  as  “ boisterous  impatience  and  morbid  fanati- 
cism.” That  the  prospect  of  being  eaten  by  lions  may  have  had  a stimulating 
effect  upon  the  holy  Bishop’s  imagination,  and  that  he  may  have  expressed 
his  willingness  to  suffer  somewhat  more  warmly  than  if  he  had  written  quietly 
in  his  study,  I can  readily  conceive.  But  to  characterize  this  generous  warmth 
as  “boisterous  impatience  and  morbid  fanaticism”  is  to  war  against  every 
noble  impulse  of  the  human  heart.  Writings  more  free  than  the  Ignatian 
Epistles  from  fanaticism,  and  from  every  other  kind  of  bitterness,  can  nowhere 
be  found.  See  Antient  Syriac  Version,  etc.,  by  W.  Cureton,  M.A.  For  a 
summary  of  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  Seven  Epistles,  see  Prof.  Blunt’s 
Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  First  Three  Centuries ; also  Dr.  Schaff’s 
History  of  the  Church. 


no  History  of  the  Church.  . 

times  is  found  in  all  copies  of  his  writings,  and  is  therefore  not 
His  ivitness  affccted  by  the  critical  objections  which  have  been 
made  to  portions  of  the  text.  On  the  subject  of  Epis- 
Discifhne.  ^Qpacy  his  language  is  decisive.  The  proper  Divinity 
of  the  Son  of  God,  the  reality  of  the  Incarnation,  and  the  anti- 
Gnostic  maxim  that  even  things  done  in  the  body  are  spiritual 
if  done  in  the  Lord,  are  expressed  with  equal  force  and  preci- 
sion. The  hortatory  parts  of  the  Epistles  reveal  a state  of  things 
in  the  Churches  differing  little  from  what  existed  when  Timothy 
received  his  instructions  from  S.  Paul.  The  widows  continued 
to  be  the  special  charge  of  the  chief  Pastor.  Masters  and  slaves, 
husbands  and  wives,  are  to  grow  in  grace  by  faithful  performance 
of  their  duties  to  one  another.  Marriage  is  honored ; virginity 
is  moderately  commended.'^  With  the  exception,  in  short,  of  a 
brief  and  obscure  allusion  to  Satan’s  supposed  ignorance  of  some 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  Incarnation,  everything  in  these  writings 
is  indicative  of  an  age  of  simple  faith,  averse  to  speculation, 
averse  to  innovation,  and  jealously  conservative  of  truth  and 
order,  in  the  letter  and  spirit  of  them  both. 

With  the  remarkable  witness  of  Pliny  and  Ignatius — the  one 
a heathen  philosopher,  the  other  a Christian  Bishop,  but  both 
Two  testifying  to  the  vigor  of  Christianity  at  this  compara- 
Wttnesses.  unrecorded  period  of  its  history — we  pass  with 

rapid  steps  to  an  epoch  which  more  completely  lifts  the  veil  of 
obscurity  and  silence,  opening  the  seals  of  a new  era  of  Church 
life,  and  showing  the  seeds  of  good  and  evil,  which  had  been 
springing  the  meanwhile  in  the  full  luxuriance  of  their  growth. 

*5  The  much  abused  phrase,  Nothing  without  the  Bishop,  is  used  chiefly 
in  this  connection;  namely,  that  in  undertaking  the  two  most  critical  and  mo- 
mentous of  all  engagements — virginity  and  marriage — young  persons  should 
not  think  themselves  wiser  than  their  Pastors.  S.  Ignatii  Ep,  ad  Poly  carp.  5. 


Hadrian  and  the  Antonines. 


Ill 


CHAPTER  II. 


HADRIAN  AND  THE  ANTONINES. 


The  ablest  and  wisest  Emperors  were  not  by  any  means  the  most 
favorable  to  Christianity.  Trajan  is  known  in  history  as  the 
third  of  the  Persecutors.  Under  Hadrian  his  suc- 

Fourth 

cessor,  a philosophic  prince  of  varied  talents  and  vir-  Persecution^ 

, . , . , A.D.  117-138. 

tues — whose  virtue,  however,  seems  to  have  possessed 
him  as  a spirit  of  unrest — things  were  but  little  altered  for  the 
better.  Persecution  was  continually  breaking  out  in  one  place 
or  another.  But  the  severity  with  which  it  was  conducted  de- 
pended mainly  upon  the  temper  of  the  mob,  and  the  greater  or 
less  zeal  of  the  provincial  magistrates. 

It  is  of  little  use  to  look  for  recondite  reasons  for  the  injus- 
tice, or  indifference,  of  these  politically  wise  Emperors  towards 
their  Christian  subjects.  The  Church  undoubtedly 

. , Progress 

was  becoming  a great  power.  It  was  felt,  moreover,  0/ the 
to  be  a power  of  change.  The  more  thoughtful  magis- 
trates, in  proportion  as  they  were  patriotic  and  religious  in  the 
heathen  sense,  were  nervously  alive  to  the  importance  of  this 
fact ; and  of  course  the  more  alive,  as  Christianity  was  to  them 
an  incomprehensible,  and,  some  of  them  half  suspected,  an  irre- 
pressible phenomenon.  Yet  they  were  by  no  means 
settled  in  their  judgment,  or  consistent  in  their  course. 

As  a man,  about  to  be  overtaken  by  the  flow  of  a great  tide,  first 
notices  with  indifference  a pool  here  or  there  forming  stealthily 
in  the  sands,  but  at  last,  when  he  sees  the  pools  enlarging  and 
rapidly  multiplying,  is  awakened  to  his  danger,  and  now  ad- 


Gradual. 


I 12 


History  of  the  Church. 


As  a 
Growth. 


vances,  now  retreats,  the  hostile  element  confronting  him  which- 
ever way  he  turns : such  was  the  position,  and  such  the  policy 
of  the  magistrates  of  the  Empire,  in  dealing  with 
Christianity.  Mere  superstitions  they  could  easily 
have  tolerated  with  Roman  magnanimity.  But  Christianity, 
they  saw,  was  no  common  superstition.  Nor  was  it  a violent 
enthusiasm,  sweeping  with  foaming  and  threatening  front  along 
a measurable  channel.  What  was  infinitely  more  perplexing,  it 
was  singularly  quiet,  singularly  peaceable,  singularly  gradual  in 
^ , its  advance.  It  came  in  as  a growth : it  rose  as  a 

Solway  tide.^  Indeed,  so  uniform  was  its  progress  in 
all  parts  of  the  Roman  world,  so  simultaneous  in  places  far 
remote  from  one  another,  that  whether  it  was  rising  upon 
society,  or  society  was  sinking  into  it,  was  a question  that  the 
philosophy  of  the  times  found  it  difficult  to  answer.  There 
were  many  who  looked  upon  it,  therefore,  as  a sort  of  myste- 
rious epidemic.  And  it  was  this  mystery,  in  fact,  this  evidence 
of  power  without  any  of  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  power, 
that  baffled  the  counsels  of  the  Emperors,  and  entangled  them 
in  a policy  as  futile  as  it  was  unjust. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  there  were  Christians  who  gave  need- 
less offence,  by  the  display  of  an  inordinate  desire  of  martyrdom. 
Inordinate  When  Arrius  Antoninus,""  probably  about  this  period, 
opened  his  tribunal  in  Asia  for  accusations  against 
them,  they  voluntarily  came  forward  in  such  numbers,  that  the 
governor,  veiling  his  humanity  under  an  appearance  of  con- 
tempt, was  forced  to  drive  them  away.  There  are  ropes 


* The  steady  increase  of  Christians  in  all  ranks  of  society  was  a common 
talk  among  the  heathen ; and  the  somewhat  exaggerated  expressions  of  the 
Apologists  to  that  effect  are  often  put  in  the  mouths  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Gospel.  Thus  Tertullian  : “ Men  cry  out  that  the  state  is  beset,  that  the 
Christians  are  in  their  fields,  in  their  forts,  in  their  islands.  They  mourn,  as 
for  a loss,  that  evefy  sex,  age,  condition,  and  now  even  every  rank  is  going 
over  to  this  sect.”  Apologet.  i.  For  numerous  references  to  passages  bearing 
on  this  subject,  see  Oxf.  Translation  of  Terttill.  p.  3,  note  g. 

^Tertull.  ad  Scap.  5.  There  would  seem  to  have  been  two  of  the  name 
of  Arrius ; the  one  under  Hadrian,  the  other  in  the  times  of  Commodus. 


Hadrian  and  the  Antonines. 


113 

enough,  said  he,  to  hang  yourselves  with,  if  life  is  such  a bur- 
den to  you. 

But  such  displays  on  the  part  of  a certain  class,  were  symp- 
toms of  a distemper,  which,  at  this  time,  pervaded  all  orders  of 
men,  and,  in  a measure,  all  forms  of  religion.  The  Fanaticism 
decay  of  Heathenism  was  filling  the  world  with  wild 
dreams.  Fanaticism  abounded.  The  Carpocratians  and  other 
Gnostic  or  semi-heathen  sects,  made  their  meetings  the  scenes 
of  abominable  orgies.  The  Jews  were  in  a ferment  of  religious 
wars.  They  had  rejected  their  true  Messiah  ; but  the 

^ The  Jews, 

vision  of  a Messiah,  ever  present  to  their  minds,  had 
become  a great  stone,  as  it  were,  that  was  perpetually  falling  on 
them  and  grinding  them  to  powder.  Under  Trajan, 
they  had  perpetrated  a horrible  massacre  of  the  Gen-  ’ 
tiles  in  Egypt.  Similar  events  had  occurred  in  Libya,  Cyre- 
naica,  Cyprus,  Palestine,  and  Mesopotamia.  Under  Hadrian, 
Bar  Cochba  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  furiously  persecuted 
the  Christians.  In  this  rebellion,  which  terminated,  as  we  have 
seen, 3 with  the  second  overthrow  of  Jerusalem,  more 
than  six  hundred  thousand  Jews  are  said  to  have  per- 
ished  ; and  by  famine  and  other  evils  that  followed,  Judaea  was 
almost  depopulated.  There  was  similar  excitement  among  the 
Heathen.  The  Egyptians  were  running  frantic  over  the  The 
supposed  discovery  of  their  bull-god.  Apis.**  Magical 
arts  began  to  be  revived  ; and  to  these,  and  even  viler  super- 
stitions, the  philosophic  Emperor  fell  an  easy  victim.  The 
worship  that  he  instituted  to  his  deified  minion  Antinous  made 
him  an  object  of  contempt  to  the  very  heathen. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  if  the  Christians, 
partly  from  being  somewhat  infected  with  the  evil  spirit  of  the 
times,  partly  from  being  confounded  with  wretches  who 
assumed  the  Name  of  Christ  to  profane  it,  and  partly  from  a 
new  edge  being  given  to  the  malignity  both  of  Jews  and 
heathen,  suffered  in  many  ways  not  intended  by  the  laws,  and 

3 Book  I.  ch.  vii.  See  Euseb.  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  2,  6. 

4 Spartianus  de  Api;  Euseb.  de  Pi'ceparat.  ii.  ii. 


1 1 4 History  of  the  Church. 

became  more  than  ever  the  objects  of  popular  violence.  In 
Faith  Martyrologies,^  it  is  said  that  Faith,  Hope,  and 

Hopeiand  Charity  were  among  the  sufferers  of  this  time,  being 

Chanty,  ^ 

put  to  death  at  Rome,  along  with  Wisdom,  their 
mother.  These  holy  sisters,  the  martyrs  of  every  age,  had 
doubtless  begun  to  suffer  then.  Besides  them,  however,  there 
seem  to  have  been  victims  of  a more  tangible  description,  in 
Italy,  Sardinia,  Greece,  Palestine,  and  all  the  provinces  of  the 
East.® 

It  was  during  Hadrian’s  reign  that  Quadratus,  Bishop  of 
Athens,^  wrote  an  Apology  for  the  Christians,  and  presented  it 
Quadratus,  t^e  Emperor.  He  was  a disciple  of  the  Apostles 
(many  of  whose  miracles  he  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes). 
Bishop,  ^ distinguished  Evangelist  and  Prophet.  Becoming 

Bishop  of  Athens,  he  labored  with  great  success  in  reestablishing 
the  Church,  which,  in  that  part  of  Greece,  had  fallen  into 
Hadrian  decay.  Hadrian,  visiting  the  city  in  the  course  of  his 
in  Athens,  travels,  was  equally  intent  upon  reviving 

heathenism.^  He  seems,  however,  to  have  treated  the  venerable 
Apologist  with  all  due  respect.  The  memorial  pre- 

Aristides,  ^ i ^ i 

sented  by  Quadratus  on  this  occasion,  and  a similar 
discourse  written  by  Aristides  a converted  philosopher,  were 


5 Martyrolog.  Roman.  August,  i. 

^ The  number  of  Martyrs  at  various  periods  is  a subject  that  has  been 
much  discussed,  to  little  or  no  purpose.  The  extremes  {i,  e.,  the  reasonable 
extremes)  are  represented  by  Dodwell,  Disertat.  Cyprian,  xi.  and  Ruinart. 
Acta  Martyr,  Selecta  et  Sincera,  Prefat,  Most  modern  writers  take  the 
mean  between  these — a process  more  easy  than  satisfactory. 

7 Euseb.  iv.  3 ; iii.  37. 

^ He  was  there  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries.  Hadrian’s 
active  mind  being  superstitious,  as  well  as  philosophic,  I can  see  no  improba- 
bility in  the  story  of  Lampridus  [Alex,  Severus,  xxiv.)  that  he  erected  some 
temples  without  statues,  with  a view  to  admit  Christ  among  the  Roman  gods. 
The  same  feeling  that  induced  the  Athenians  to  have  an  altar  to  “ the  unknown 
God  ” may  have  suggested  such  a course  ; but  when  he  found  the  priests  op- 
posed to  it,  his  reverence  for  the  established  religion  (Spartian.  Vit  Hadrian, 
xxii.)  made  him  desist. 


Hadrian  and  the  Antonines. 


115 


highly  esteemed  by  the  Christians,  and  are  said  to  have  had 
some  effect  upon  the  mind  of  the  Emperor. 

A greater  effect  was  produced  by  a letter  from  Serenius 
Granianus,  Proconsul  of  Asia  Minor,  representing  to  the  Em- 
peror the  injustice  of  allowing  Christians  to  be  put  to 
death  on  a mere  popular  outcry.  Other  governors  against 

^ ^ ^ ^ Informers. 

had  made  similar  complaints.  Hadrian  replied  by  a 
famous  letter  to  Minucius  Fundanus,^  successor  of  Granianus,  in 
which  he  forbids  any  one  to  be  put  to  death,  except  in  due 
course  of  law,  and  orders  that  false  accusers  should  be  rigorously 
judged  and  punished. 

Antoninus  Pius,  Hadrian’s  successor,  is  said  to  have  re- 
newed this  favorable  edict,  and  seems  to  have  done  his  utmost 
to  have  it  honestly  enforced.  He  was  moved  to  this 

. . Antoninus 

by  his  own  humane  disposition,  and  possibly  by  an  Pius, 
apology  of  Justin,  the  philosopher  and  martyr.  Be- 
yond occasional  outbreaks  of  fanaticism,  therefore,  in  conse- 
quence of  a long  series  of  public  calamities,^®  the  Christians 
were  little  troubled  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion.  Indeed, 
the  sufferings  they  were  called  to  endure  were  hardly  more  than 
were  necessary  to  draw  a k'ne  betwixt  them  and  the  Gnostic 
sects  ; the  latter,  as  a general  rule,  not  caring  enough  for  the 
Name  of  Christ  to  bear  persecution  for  it. 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus  was,  as  Gibbon  has  described 
him,  of  a severer  and  more  laborious  kind  of  virtue  ” than  his 
amiable  predecessor.  ‘‘  He  embraced  the  rigid  system  Marcus 
of  the  Stoics,  which  taught  him  to  submi  this  body  to  Aurelius, 

. A.D.161-180. 

his  mind,  his  passions  to  his  reason ; to  consider  vir- 
tue as  the  only  good,  vice  as  the  only  evil,  all  things  external 
as  things  indifferent.  ’ ’ To  his  subjects  in  general,  he  was  just  and 
beneficent.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  peace  of  the  Hostile  to 
Christians,  their  religion  was  particularly  offensive  to  Gospel. 
Stoic  pride.  The  imperial  sophist  might  declaim  of  the  happy 

9 Euseb.  Eccles.  Hist.  iv.  9. 

*0  Famines,  inundations,  earthquakes,  fires.  Jul.  Capitolin.  Vita  Antonin. 
Pii,  ix. 


1 1 6 History  of  the  Church. 

frame  of  mind  which  enables  one  to  await  annihilation  with  a 
stern  composure.  A Christian  would  merely  pity  such  rigidity 
of  soul.  Man  is  not  made  for  a leaden  and  passionless  immo- 
bility : he  is  benevolently  created  for  life  and  hope.  Not  sup- 
pression of  the  affections,  but  their  proper  cultivation,  is  the 
rule  of  duty.  Not  annihilation,  but  a blissful  resurrection — 
not  death,  but  life — is  the  doctrine  to  inspire  true  courage, 
true  patience,  true  temperance,  true  virtue  of  every  kind. 

Marcus  Aurelius  felt  this  antagonism  between  his  own  phi- 
losophy and  the  faith  of  his  Christian  subjects.”  “ It  is  admir- 
Thai  Stoic  able,’'  says  he,  that  the  soul  should  be  prepared  for 
Ideal.  whatever  may  await  her  : to  be  extinguished,  to  be  dis- 
persed, or  whatever  else  may  happen.  But  prepared,  I say,  not 
with  mere  obstinacy,  like  that  of  the  Christians,  not  with  an 
idle  show  of  joy,  but  in  a grave,  considerate,  reasonable  man- 
ner, so  as  to  make  a serious  impression  on  the  minds  of  other 
people.”  Judging  Christian  hope  from  the  stand-point  of 
stoicism,  he  considered  it  a mere  affectation.  Besides  this,  the 
Gospel,  as  he  could  not  fail  to  see,  imparted  a peculiar  power. 
Under  its  inspiration,  not  the  perfect  man  merely,  not  the  king 
in  the  stoic  sense,  but  women  and  children,  and  even  slaves, 
could  face  the  great  terror  undismayed.  In  this  respect,  phi- 
losophy had  begun  to  feel  itself  rebuked.  About  the  time  of 
the  Emperor’s  accession,  a hardened  wretch  of  the  name  of 
Peregrinus,”  who,  in  the  course  of  a bad  life,  had  been  succes- 
sively parricide,  Christian,  priest,  confessor,  and  finally  an 
apostate  from  the  faith  and  a professor  of  Cynicism,  attempted 

” Neander  {^Ch.  Hist.  i.  ii.)  calls  attention  to  a ‘‘childlike  piety,”  which 
the  Emperor  had  imbibed  from  his  mother,  and  which  sometimes  led  him  to 
the  expression  of  the  noblest  sentiments,  and  sometimes  involved  him  in  abject 
superstition.  A strong  religious  feeling  of  this  kind  must  have  been  terribly 
galled  at  times  by  the  artificial  stoicism  in  v/hich  he  had  tried  to  encase  it ; 
and  the  irritation  thence  arising  may  account  for  his  peculiar  hostility  to  the 
Christians.  To  hate  a thing  cordially,  there  must  be  a certain  amount  of 
sympathy  with  it. 

*2  Lucian,  De  Morte  Peregrini. 


Hadrian  and  the  Antojzines, 


117 


to  prop  the  failing  credit  of  philosophy  by  burningh  imself  pub- 
licly at  the  Olympic  games.  An  immense  crowd  was  The  Cynic 
present.  Some  laughed,  some  admired.  Contrary, 
perhaps,  to  the  expectation  of  Peregrinus,  none  had  the  human- 
ity to  interfere.  After  many  delays  and  tremors,  he  threw  him- 
self at  length  into  the  devouring  element.  The  act  was  indeed 
but  a vile  caricature  of  Christian  self-devotion.  It  shows  a 
point,  however,  in  which  philosophy  felt  its  own  deficiency. 
Where  Stoicism  could  boast  of  an  occasional  suicide,  Christian- 
ity could  point  to  an  unfailing  succession  of  Martyrs.  This 
being  the  case,  there  was  no  course  left  for  a man  of  discern- 
ment like  the  Emperor,  but  either  to  embrace  the  Gospel,  or 
to  treat  it  as  an  enthusiasm  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  his  sub- 
jects, and  to  the  welfare  of  the  State. 

Among  the  numerous  sufferers  of  this  reign  there  are  three 
names  so  distinguished,  and  so  typical  of  certain  phases  rhreeTypes 
of  the  Church  life  of  the  age,  as  to  demand  for  each  a 
separate  and  particular  account. 

Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  John,  the  bosom  friend  of  Ignatius, 
and  for  threescore  years  the  trusted  depository  of  Apostolic  tra- 
dition, is  the  representative  of  an  age  of  simple  faith, 
observant  of  the  old  landmarks,  but  not  much  exer- 
cised as  yet  by  ^^the  oppositions  of  science,’’  whether  true  or 
false.  In  Pothinus,  a disciple  of  the  same  school,  and 
in  his  companions  the  Lyonnese  Martyrs,  we  observe 
the  same  devout  faith,  but  with  it  all  the  symptoms  of  an  age  of 
sterner  and  more  complicated  trials.  The  war  against  heathen- 
ism from  without  is  accompanied  by  a protest  against  the  begin- 
nings of  heathenish  corruptions  from  within.  Justin,  Justin 
the  Philosopher,  Apologist,  and  Martyr,  more  fully  zviartyr. 
represents  this  struggle,  both  outward  and  inward,  as  leaving 
the  high  ground  of  simple  martyrdom,  and  descending  into 
the  dusty  arena  of  philosophical,  skeptical,  and  critical  discus- 
sion. 

And  this  was  a necessary  stage  in  the  Church’s  progress 
here  on  earth.  A religion  which  fails  to  satisfy  the  mind  of 


Polycarp, 


Pothinus, 


1 1 8 History  of  the  Church. 

man  can  never  rise  above  the  level  of  a popular  superstition. 
Transition  The  Church  for  awhile  might  be  content  to  announce 
Period.  i^essage  in  the  simple,  pregnant  phrases  which 

appeal  only  to  the  few  that  have  ears,  to  hear.  But  this 
would  not  answer  always.  As  St.  Ignatius  foresaw,  on  his 
way  to  martyrdom,  other  times  were  coming,  with  a de- 
mand for  combatants  who  could  speak  face  to  face  with 
all  kinds  of  men  ; who,  as  skilful  pilots,  should  be  in  readi- 
ness for  winds  from  all  quarters  of  the  heavens ; who,  as 
athletes  thoroughly  trained,  could  stand  like  an  anvil  under 
repeated  blows,  knowing  that  to  be  smitten  is  as  needful  for  the 
victory  as  the  power  to  smite. In  proportion  as  we  appreciate 
this  truth  we  are  prepared  to  do  justice  to  three  phases  of 
Church  life,  which  appeared  successively,  or  rather  grew  one 
out  of  another,  before  the  end  of  the  second  century.  An  age 

of  simple  witness  bears  within  it  an  age  of  elaborate 

Three  Ages.  ^ ° 

Apologetics ; and  this  again  developes  into  a con- 
fused and  troublous  era  of  religious  discussion  and  polemical 
zeal. 

As  types  of  three  aspects  of  this  period  of  transition,  the 
names  of  Polycarp,  Pothinus,  and  Justin  Martyr  are  entitled  to 
the  large  place  they  hold  in  the  early  history  of  the  Church. 

^3  S.  Ignat,  ad  Polycarp.  2,  3. 


S.  Poly  carp. 


119 


CHAPTER  III. 


S.  POLYCARP. 


Polycarp, 


The  city  of  Smyrna,  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century, 
was  hardly  inferior  to  Ephesus  in  social  and  political  impor- 
tance. The  Church  established  there  at  quite  an  early  church  in 
period  had  remained,  as  we  infer  from  the  Apocalypse, 
singularly  uncorrupt ; its  Angel,  rich  in  good  works  amid  tem- 
poral poverty  and  affliction,  having  guarded  it  successfully 
against  the  arts  of  that  semi-Jewish,  semi-Gnostic  philosophy, 
with  which  the  Asiatic  cities  at  that  time,  and  for  some  while 
after,  were  more  or  less  infected.^ 

Whether  the  Angel  thus  commended  was  the  admirable 
Bishop  subsequently  so  well  known  under  the  name  of  Poly- 
carp, is  matter  of  conjecture  only."*  Certain  it  is, 
however,  that  the  saintly  Bishop  of  the  second  century 
proved  not  unworthy  of  the  eulogy  pronounced  upon  the  faith- 
ful Angel  of  the  first.  For  twenty  years  or  more  the  disciple  of 
S.  John,  and  the  trusted  friend  of  S.  Ignatius,  he  first  comes 
before  us  a sober  pastor  at  the  head  of  a well  ordered  flock, 
both  sheep  and  shepherd  nailed  to  the  cross  of 

^ ^ The  Shep- 

Christ,’’  at  the  time  when  the  Martyr  of  Antioch  herd  and 
halted  for  a few  days  at  Smyrna,  on  his  memorable 
journey  to  Rome.  The  latter  entrusted  him  with  the  dearest 
remaining  care  of  his  life.  He  was  to  have  a fit  head  provided 
for  the  Church  at  Antioch ; to  write  to  all  the  Churches  which 

* Rev.  ii.  8-10. 

2 The  probabilities  (from  the  age  of  Polycarp  at  the  time  of  his  death,  etc.) 
are  against  the  identity  of  the  two. 


120 


History  of  the  Church. 

Ignatius  could  not  write  to  himself ; and  to  do  what  else  in  his 
discretion  might  be  found  expedient. 

His  style,  in  the  portion  that  remains  of  his  excellent  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians,^  is  in  keeping  with  the  sobriety  and  sim- 
plicity of  his  character.  There  is  nothing  in  it  of  the 

His  style  ^ I 

and  Char-  terseiiess  of  Ignatius,  that  concentrated  power  which 
makes  old  thoughts  crystallize  into  something  new  and 
rare.  Holy  Scripture  is  the  staple  of  his  writings.  He  quotes 
much, — quotes  generally  in  the  letter,  and  seems  drawn  along 
by  the  sacred  text,  as  if  he  loved  it  too  much  to  let  it  go  his 
hold,  or  to  break  it  off  abruptly  from  any  of  its  connections. 
Less  brilliant  than  Ignatius,  and  perhaps  with  less  claim  to  any 
‘‘gift’’  of  Divine  illumination,  he  was  eminently  fitted  for 
the  providential  end  for  which  his  life  on  earth  seems  to  have 
been  so  extraordinarily  prolonged.  Not  faithful  merely,  but 
literally  and  punctiliously  faithful,  conservative  of  jots  and 
A Theo.  tittles,  he  was  just  the  man  for  a theodroinos^  as  Igna- 
dro7ne.  phrases  it,^ — a Divine  message-bearer  from  the 

Apostolic  age  to  a second  and  third  generation  of  zealous  wit- 
nesses to  the  Truth. 

“It  seems  to  me  that  I still  hear  him  telling” — so  writes 
Irenaeus,^  the  most  intellectual  of  the  disciples  of  his  school — 
Portrait  by  how  lie  had  conversed  with  S.  John  and  other  eye- 
irenaus.  ’yyitnesses  of  Jesus  Christ ; repeating  the  very  words  he 
had  heard  from  their  mouths,  with  many  particulars  of  the  mir- 
acles and  doctrines  of  that  divine  Saviour,  all  of  which  was  in 
closest  conformity  with  what  we  learn  from  the  Sacred  Script- 
ures, from  the  writings,  namely,  of  those  who  were  themselves 
eye-witnesses  of  the  Word  of  Life.” 

About  the  middle  of  the  century,  during  the  reign  of  Anto- 
ninus Pius,  he  made  a visit  to  Rome,  desirous  of  conference  with 
Anicetus,  then  Bishop  of  that  city.  There  he  bore 

Visit  to  ^ ^ ^ 11 

Rome^  his  testimony  against  Marcion,  Carpocrates,  and  other 
heretics  of  the  day.  On  the  question  already  agitated 
in  the  Church — the  practice,  namely,  of  feasting  like  the  Jews 
3 Patr.  Apostol.  Oxon.  1838.  4 Ad  Poly  carp.  7.  5 Apud.  Euseb.  v.  20. 


I2I 


S.  Polycarp. 

on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  Nisan^ — he  maintained  the 
tradition  of  S.  John  and  S.  Philip  against  Anicetus  and  the 
Roman  custom.  Neither  party  had  power  to  convince  the  other. 
Against  the  practice  of  S.  John  and  S.  Philip,  the  Two  Tra- 
Romans  alleged  that  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul.  Neither 
Anicetus  nor  Polycarp  seems  to  have  dreamed  of  any  authority 
vested  in  the  Roman  See  by  which  the  controversy  might  be 
once  for  all  decided.  They  parted  as  they  had  met,  in  peace. 
And  for  nearly  two  centuries  longer,  the  Christians  of  Asia 
Minor,  with  a firmness  sufficiently  vexatious  at  the  time,  but 
precious  in  after  ages  as  a testimony  to  the  primitive  equality  of 
the  Churches,  adhered  to  their  tradition. 

In  his  martyr-death,  as  for  so  many  years  in  his  martyr-life, 
Polycarp  was  still  the  faithful  theodrome ; not  running  before, 
but  with  tranquil  humility  content  to  follow  after,  the  will  of 
God.  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice  that,  Excessive 
owing  in  part  to  continuous  persecution,  and  in  part 
to  a contagious  enthusiasm  which  the  Church  resisted  but  not 
with  absolute  success,  the  glory  of  witnessing  for  Christ  was 
sometimes  coveted  by  persons  unworthy  of  the  honor.  Hence 
a needless  asperity  at  times,  or  even  a species  of  bravado,  before 
the  tribunals.  Hence,  among  some,  an  actual  courting  or  pro- 
voking of  popular  hatred.  Hence,  in  short,  many  sore  scandals 
to  the  Church.  Early  in  the  century  the  wretched  volunteer 
Peregrinus  had  shown  that  one  might  stand  up  man- 
fully  as  a confessor,  in  times  of  persecution,  and  yet  be  unable 
to  keep  his  feet  amid  the  fumes  of  subsequent  applause.  More 
recently  a Phrygian  of  the  name  of  Quintus  had  thrust  himself 
forward  as  a volunteer  for  martyrdom  ; but  as  soon  as  he  heard 
the  lions  roar  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  to  idols.  Lapses  of  this 
kind,  becoming  more  frequent  as  the  Church  increased  in  num- 
bers, made  it  incumbent  on  pastors  and  leaders  to  set  an  example 
of  a new  kind  of  confessorship — the  confessorship,  namely,  of 
a prudent  circumspection  : a thing  vastly  more  difficult  in  stir- 
ring times  than  any  other  form  of  faith  and  courage. 

^ For  the  Paschal  question,  see  ch.  ix.  of  this  book. 

6 


122  History  of  the  Church. 

The  first  demand  for  the  sacrifice  of  Polycarp  arose  from  the 
amphitheatre  at  Smyrna,  on  occasion,  we  are  told,  of  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  Germanicus  with  eleven  other  Christians  of  Philadel- 
phia. These  amphitheatres — huge  mouths  of  hell  as 

The  Circus.  ^ ^ ° 

’ the  Christians  properly  esteemed  them,  with  their 
beast-fights  and  gladiator-shows,  bubbling  with  all  the  lewd  and 
cruel  passions  of  the  idolatrous  rabble  of  great  cities — were  the 
recognized  feeders  of  that  blood-thirsty  spirit  which  disgraced 
the  civilization  of  the  old  Roman  world  ; and  so  long  as  they 
were  tolerated,  were  unfailing  fountain-heads  of  new  persecu- 
its  Baleful  tions.  There  is  a fearful  description  by  S.  Augustine^ 
Influence.  way  the  soul  could  be  wrought  on,  and  meta- 

morphosed in  these  abominable  dens.  How  horror  stiffened 
into  cruelty  at  the  first  sight  of  blood ; how  cruelty,  amid  the 
growls  of  lacerated  brutes,  and  the  cheers  and  jeers  of  monsters 
in  human  shape,  elevated  itself  into  a sort  of  demoniacal  pos- 
session ; how  the  shrinking  novice  of  a few  hours  since,  now 
‘‘  beheld,  shouted,  kindled,'’  being  magnetized,  as  it  were,  into 
a frenzy  of  mingled  terror  and  delight : all  this  has  been  vividly 
portrayed,  and  to  those  who  have  observed  the  plastic  nature  of 
the  soul  is  by  no  means  difficult  to  imagine. 

Between  the  darkness  of  such  scenes  and  the  pure  light  of 
Christianity,  there  could  be  no  sort  of  concord.  Regarding 
them  as  the  rallying-point  of  the  daemons  whom  the  Gospel  was 
dislodging  from  shrine  and  grove,  believers  looked  upon  them 
with  an  aversion  not  to  be  disguised.  The  hate,  of  course,  was 
fully  reciprocated.  When  the  name  of  Polycarp,  therefore,  was 
Polycarp  Uttered  in  the  theatre  of  Smyrna,  it  was  caught  up  at 
called  for.  resounded  on  every  side.  ‘^Away  with  the 

atheists,®  let  Polycarp  be  brought  ! " It  was  a popular  delirium, 
not  to  be  resisted,  not  to  be  evaded. 

7 S.  Augustine,  Confess,  vi.  8.  On  the  subject  of  the  indecency  and  bar- 
barity of  heathen  shows,  see  Tertullian,  De  Spectaculis. 

® “ We  are  called  Atheists,”  says  Justin  Martyr,  ‘‘  and  so  far  as  those 
called  gods  by  the  heathen  are  concerned,  we  plead  guilty  to  the  charge ; but 
not  so  with  regard  to  the  only  true  God,”  etc.  Apol.  ii.  6. 


123 


S.  Polycarp. 

The  saint,  however,  yielding  to  the  urgency  of  his  friends, 
withdrew  for  awhile  from  the  reach  of  the  infuriated  crowd. 
In  a retired  country-seat,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  His 

city,  he  spent  his  time  in  prayers  night  and  day  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Churches,  and  tranquilly  awaited  the  good  pleasure 
of  the  Lord.  Hunted  from  this  place  of  refuge,  he  magnani- 
mously yielded  to  entreaty  and  fled  to  another.  Meanwhile  he  had 
had  a vision  in  which  his  pillow  appeared  all  in  flames,  ^ ^ 

^ ^ ^ 1 • 1 r Dream, 

and  on  the  strength  of  it  had  foretold  the  kind  of 
martyrdom  he  was  called  to  undergo.  Discovered  in  his  second 
retreat,  he  said  simply,  ^^The  Lord's  will  be  doneP  and  gave 
himself  up.  Two  hours  were  granted  him  for  prayer,  his  cap- 
tors  the  meanwhile  regaling  themselves  with  a collation,  which 
the  venerable  Bishop,  mindful  to  the  last  of  the  duty  of  hospi- 
tality, had  been  careful  to  provide. 

On  his  way  to  the  city  he  was  overtaken  by  Herod  the  Ire- 
narch  and  Nicetas  his  father,  who  took  him  up  into  their  chariot, 
and  tried  to  persuade  him  to  call  Caesar  Lord,  and  HisCon- 
offer  the  sacrifice  enjoined  in  such  cases.  He  simply  fesston, 
answered,  I cannot  do  what  you  advise.  Brought  before  Statius 
Quadratus  the  Proconsul,  he  was  ordered  to  repeat  the  prayer 
for  the  destruction  of  the  godless,  which,  being  intended  as  an 
imprecation  against  the  Christians,  had  become  a gathering  cry 
of  the  Smyrna  rabble.  But  the  language  of  the  prayer  was 
capable  of  a Christian  interpretation.  Polycarp,  therefore,  was 
content  to  repeat  the  words  prescribed,  looking  up  with  beam- 
ing face  towards  Heaven.  When  commanded  to  curse  Christ, 
he  mildly  answered.  Fourscore  and  six  years  have  I served  Him, 
and  He  hath  done  me  no  ill : how  then  can  I curse  my  King 
and  Saviour?  To  the  further  demand,  that  he  should  swear  by 
the  Fortune  of  Caesar,  he  replied  that  he  was  a Christian,  the 
meaning  of  which  name  he  was  ready  to  explain,  if  the  Pro- 
consul  would  grant  him  a hearing. 

Moved  probably  by  a feeling  of  compassion,  the  Proconsul 
then  advised  him  to  plead  his  cause  before  the  people.  But 
Polycarp  was  not  to  be  led  into  such  a crooked  course.  He  saw. 


124  History  of  the  Church. 


Honor 

•where 

due. 


what  certain  apologists  for  the  Magistrates  of  that  age  are 
False  strangely  blind  to,^  that  men  in  authority  had  no  right 
Kindness.  sword  Committed  to  them  into  the  hands  of 

an  irresponsible,  blood-thirsty  mob,  and  then  to  wash  their  hands, 
Pilate-like,  as  though  they  were  innocent  in  the  matter.  Poly- 
carp, doubtless,  was  well  aware  of  this.  To  the  soft  words  of 
the  Proconsul,  therefore,  he  replied  with  dignity  and  firmness : 

Before  you  I am  willing  to  make  answer ; for  Princes 
and  Magistrates  are  ordained  of  God,  and  we  Chris- 
tians are  taught  to  render  them  the  honor  that  is  due : 
but  with  regard  to  the  populace,  they  have  no  such  claim,  and  I 
am  under  no  obligation  to  plead  before  them.^’ 

The  games  at  this  time  being  over.  Polycarp,  according  to 
his  prediction,  was  condemned  to  the  stake.  The  Christians  of 
Smyrna,  who  witnessed  and  recorded  the  transaction, 
saw  the  flames  gather  around  and  enclose  him  as  in  a 
fiery  pavilion,  while  a delicioi^s  perfume  floated  through 
the  air.*°  As  the  fire  did  not  reach  him  at  once,  some  one,  per- 
haps out  of  compassion,  plunged  a sword  into  his  side.  His 
friends  gathered  what  could  be  found  of  his  remains,  and  rever- 
entially consigned  them  to  a tomb.  There, they  add,  with 
a discriminating  piety  worthy  of  their  saintly  teacher,  we  hope 
to  assemble  hereafter,  and  celebrate  with  joy  the  day  of  his  mar- 
Honors  tyrdom ; not  to  worship  him,  however,  as  the  Pagans 
paid  him.  contemplate  the  example  he  has  set,  and  to 

learn,  if  needs  be,  to  imitate  it.  As  to  worship,  we  can  never 
abandon  Jesus  Christ.  We  worship  Him  because  He  is  the  Son 
of  God.  The  martyrs  we  love  and  follow,  because  of  the  very 
great  love  they  have  shown  for  their  King  and  Master.’*” 


His  Mar- 
"tyrdom  y 
A.D.  167-9. 


9 It  is  true,  however,  that  many  magistrates  were  ready  to  connive  at  the 
escape  of  Christians ; perhaps  most  of  them  were,  when  believers  could  be 
induced  to  accept  dishonorable  modes  of  escape.  See  Tertull.  Ad  Scap.  iv. 

These  facts,  easily  enough  explained,  do  not  seem  to  be  mentioned  as 
miracles,  but  merely  as  pleasing  incidents ; just  as  one  notices  a fine  day  on 
any  special  occasion,  or  any  other  welcome  coincidence. 

Ecclesice  Smyrnensis  de  Martyrio  S.  Polycarpi  Epistol.  Circularis. 
Patrum  Apostol.,  etc. 


125 


The  Lyonnese  Martyrs. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Polycarp,  a man  full  of  years,  full  of 
fruit — the  very  embodiment  of  that  quiet,  conservative,  order- 
loving  spirit,  which  was  eminently  characteristic  of  conserva- 
the  Churches  of  S.  John.  He  left  numerous  disciples, 
many  of  whose  names  were  recorded  in  the  roll  of  Martyrs.  It 
is  said,  in  a doubtful  passage  of  the  Epistle  which  describes  his 
death,  that  when  the  sword  pierced  his  side,  a dove”  flew  out 
of  the  w^und  and  winged  its  way  toward  Heaven.  The  story  is 
without  value  as  a matter  of  fact ; but,  if  it  were  true,  there 
could  be  no  better  symbol  of  the  change  that  was  already  taking 
place  in  the  aspect  of  Christianity.  The  dove-like  temper  was 
already  in  large  measure  departed.  A spirit  not  less  needful  for 
the  times — a spirit  of  inquiry,  agitation,  and  polemical  discus- 
sion— was  rapidly  approaching  in  its  place. 

It  is  also  said  in  the  Epistle,  that  ‘^he  appeased  the  persecu- 
tion; sealing  it  up,  as  it  were,  with  his  testimony.  seaio/the 
This  applies,  however,  only  to  Smyrna  and  other  cities 
of  Asia.  In  Gaul,  the  p*ersecution  continued  some  years  longer. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  LYONNESE  MARTYRS. 

From  the  tree  planted  by  S.  Paul  and  watered  as  we  have  seen 
for  nearly  a century  by  S.  John  and  S.  Polycarp,  vigor-  Gallic 
ous  scions  had  sprung  up  on  the  distant  banks  of  the 
Rhone,  among  the  Graeco-Gallic  population  of  Lyons 
and  Vienne.*  The  venerable  Pothinus,  a friend  of  Polycarp 

*2  This  story  is  not  found  in  all  copies ; arid  where  it  occurs,  it  has  been 
ingeniously  conjectured  that  efaristera  (on  the  left)  has  been  changed  by 
transcribers  into perisiera  (dove). 

* It  is  probable  enough  that  other  foundations  had  been  laid  in  Gaul  prior 
to  this,  but  nothing  is  known  of  them.  See  Lorenz.  Summ.  Hist.  Gallo- 


126 


History  of  the  Church. 

and  of  about  the  same  age,  left  Asia,  it  is  probable  towards 
the  middle  of  the  century,  and  settling  in  Lyons  became  Bishop 
there.  With  him  was  a numerous  and  zealous  band,  among 
whom  the  name  of  Irenaeus  is  most  interesting  to  the  modern 
reader.  Under  their  auspices,  the  Church  grew  and  flourished, 
as  Churches  then  grew ; making  little  noise  in  the  world,  and 
keeping  scant  record  of  itself  for  the  benefit  of  posterity,  -till 
the  blade  and  the  ear  had  matured  into  the  full  corff,  and  the 
sickle  of  persecution  was  sent  in  to  reap  the  first  harvest. 

As  usual  at  this  period,  the  first  cry  for  blood  was  uttered 
among  the  brutalized  rabble  of  the  Amphitheatre.  We  learn 
First  Cry  ffom  Tacitus  how  admirably  the  Province,  as  it  was 
{Z.fiZitj  called,  having  been  first  vanquished  by  the  power  of 
170-176.  sword,  was  gradually  tamed  by  the  luxurious  appli- 

ances— the  baths,  theatres,  and  temples — of  the  wise  and  wicked 
Circe  of  the  Seven  Hills.  The  history  of  Christianity  is  a proof 
that  the  taming  was  hardly  more  than  skin-deep.  A capricious 
Heathen  Hiob,  fawuiug  on  the  hand  that  fed  them  with  bread 
Rabble.  circus-shows,  is  all  that  heathenism  ever  made  of 

the  lower  classes ; and  even  this  had  continually  to  be  repur- 
chased with  fresh  sacrifices.  Beast-fights  led  to  gladiator-fights, 
and,  gladiator-fights  becoming  tame,  the  prisons  were  emptied 
into  the  arena;  and,  at  length,  the  jails  themselves  yielding  an 
inadequate  supply  to  the  frenzied  cry  for  blood,*  hungry  eyes 
began  to  be  cast  upon  the  little  flock  of  Christians. 

Franc. y and  Gregorii  Turon.  Hist.,  etc.  It  shows  the  tenacity  of  the  Greek 
foundation,  that  as  late  as  the  sixth  century,  Caesarius  of  Arles  taught  his  peo- 
ple to  sing  indifferently  in  Greek  and  Latin.  L’abbe  Guettee  opens  his  history 
with  a lively  chapter  sur  Veglise  Gallo- Romaine : his  facts,  however,  bear 
more  on  I’eglise  Gallo-Grecque. 

2 ‘‘  Fluctuat  sequoreo  fremitu  rabieque  faventum, 

Carceribus  nondum  resolutis,  mobile  vulgus.” 

“ But  we  leaping,  raging  like  madmen,  striking  each  other,  ....  and 
sometimes  going  naked  from  the  show.”  For  much  more  to  the  same  effect, 
see  Onuphr.  Panvin.  De  Ltid.  Circ.  Bad  as  the  circus  was,  it  was  considered 
innocent,  in  comparison  with  the  filthy  enormities  of  the  theatre.  Still,  the 
former,  says  Lactantius,  was  more  maddening ; for  the  spectators  became  so 


The  Lyonnese  Martyrs. 


127 


Heroic 

Conduct. 


Attention  once  turned  that  way,  persecution  followed  as  a 
matter  of  course.  In  the  language  of  the  Lyonnese  Confessors, 
the  devil  himself  went  to  and  fro  through  the  streets  Christiana 

of  the  city,  in  the  shape  of  a savage  beast,  and  stirred  fobbed. 

popular  excitement  into  an  ungovernable  frenzy.  Christians 
began  to  be  hooted  and  pelted,  wherever  they  appeared.  The 
next  step  was  to  seize  them  and  drag  them  into  the  forum ; 
where,  accused  by  a blood-thirsty  mob,  and  interrogated  by 
complaisant  magistrates,  they  confessed  the  Name  of  Thrown 

Christ  and  were  cast  into  prison.  From  the  jails  they  Prison. 

are  carried  once  more,  for  insult  rather  than  for  trial,  into  the 
presence  of  the  Prefect  of  the  city. 

At  this  point  of  the  proceedings  occurs  one  of  those  acts  of 
heroic  self-devotion,  which,  happening  as  it  did  in  a luxurious 
and  degenerate  age,  could  hardly  fail  to  impress  the 
minds,  of  the  more  thoughtful  at  least,  of  the  perse- 
cutors themselves.  Vettius  Epagathus,  a youth  of  honorable 
character  and  station,  had  not  been  numbered  as  yet  among  the 
objects  of  attack.  But  when  he  saw  the  injustice  with  which 
his  brethren  were  treated,  he  could  not  contain  himself.  He 
advanced  to  the  tribunal.  He  demanded  to  be  heard  on  the 
side  of  the  accused.  ‘^Art  thou,  then,  a Christian?  asked  the 
Governor  in  reply.  Vettius  confessed,  and  was  condemned  to 
death.  ‘‘Thus  he  showed  himself  a paraclete,'"'  says  a True 
the  Lyonnese  narrative,  “being  filled  with  the  true 
Paraclete,  which  enabled  him  to  show  his  love  for  the  brethren, 
following  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  goeth.“ 

Of  the  others  who  had  been  seized,  about  ten  fell  away,  to 
the  great  discomfort  of  their  brethren.  Certain  slaves  Ten  fail 
also  were  forced,  by  threats  of  imprisonment  or  by 
actual  torture,  to  give  information  against  their  masters, 
conspiracy,  and  Thyestean  repasts,  were  among  the 
crimes  alleged  on  the  testimony  of  these  wretches. 

But  no  accusation  was  too  gross  for  the  fanatical  credulity  of 

excited  that  “ they  often  proceeded  from  words  to  blows,  and  a general  battle 
ensued.”  Lactant.  Divin.  Institui.  63. 


away. 


Incest, 

Crimes 

alleged. 


128 


History  of  the  Church. 


Tortures. 


the  public.  What  is  more  surprising,  even  well-instructed  per- 
sons, relatives  and  friends  of  the  accused,  allowed  their  minds 
to  be  contaminated  by  the  foul  breath  of  calumny;  and  palpable 
lies,  by  dint  of  repetition,  acquired  all  the  force  and  certainty 
of  unquestionable  facts.  The  victims,  therefore,  suffered  with- 
out pity  and  without  redress.  Huddled  together  in 
dark  and  loathsome  jails,  stretched  on  the  rack,  aut, 
mangled,  roasted,  burnt,  and  subjected  in  short  to  every  variety 
of  torture,  they  had  no  resource,  no  argument,  but  the  unvary- 
ing confession,  ‘‘I  am  a Christian  : no  wickedness  is  practised 
or  tolerated  among  us.*^ 

It  is  pleasing  to  observe  that  among  the  Lyonnese  Confessors 
the  supreme  merit  of  charity  held  its  proper  place.  They  prayed 
fervently  for  those  who  had  fallen  in  the  hour  of  trial, 

Charity  ' 

of  the  and  their  prayers  were  answered.  The  greater  part  of 
the  lapsed  returned,  and  recovered  their  good  stand- 
ing. What  was  vastly  more  difficult,  the  Martyrs  were  taught 
by  a common  calamity  to  forget  certain  differences  of  opinion, 
which  at  other  times,  perhaps,  had  received  too  much  of  their 
attention.  One  instance  of  this  deserves  to  be  particularly 
noticed. 

From  the  time  of  S.  Paul  there  had  existed  in  the  Church 
an  ascetic  or  encratite  party,  which  sometimes  as  a matter  of 
Ascetic  voluntary  self-discipline,  and  in  some  cases  from  a less 
Party.  justifiable  motive,  abstained  altogether  from  animal 
Aicibiades.  food  and  from  wine.  Alcibiades,  one  of  the  con- 
fessors, belonged  to  this  class.  As  soon,  however,  as  one  of  his 
companions  was  moved  in  a dream  to  warn  him  that  it  was 
‘‘neither  right  nor  proper  to  reject  the  good  creatures  of  God,’* 
he  changed  his  course  and  thankfully  partook  of  what  was  set 
before  him.  There  is  nothing  that  pride  more  reluctantly  gives 
up  than  a supererogatory  virtue.  The  merit  of  Alcibiades,  there- 
fore, in  yielding  so  cheerfully  to  the  scruples  of  others,  was 
justly  regarded  by  the  Lyonnese  as  an  extraordinary  proof  of 
the  presence  of  God’s  Spirit  among  them. 

Deacon  Sanctus,  probably  of  Latin  or  Gallic  origin,  was  a 


The  Lyonnese  Martyrs.  129 

martyr  such  as  S.  Ignatius  would  have  delighted  to  contemplate. 
He  stood  like  an  anvil  under  the  strokes  of  his  tor- 

. . . Sanctus. 

mentors,  and  like  an  anvil  responded  by  a single  ring- 
ing note.  Christianus  sum  was  all  he  had  to  say  of  his  name, 
city,  race,  condition,  and  profession.  Christianus  sum  he  kept 
on  repeating,  till  his  body,  we  are  told,  was  a mass  of  sores  and 
cinders,  mangled,  shrivelled,  and  distorted,  with  hardly  a vestige 
left  of  the  human  shape.  Maturus  a new  convert,  Maturus. 
Attains  a pillar  of  the  Church  in  Pergamos,  and  Alex-  Attains. 
ander  a Phrygian,  were  equally  heroic.  The  ^‘blessed  Alexander. 
Pothinus,*’  bowed  beneath  the  weight  of  more  than  Pothinus. 
ninety  years,  many  of  which  had  been  spent  in  the  Episco- 
pate at  Lyons,  showed  a dignified  serenity  worthy  of  a friend 
of  S.  Polycarp  and  S.  John.  When  asked  by  the  Governor, 
Who  is  the  God  of  the  Christians?’’  he  said,  ^‘Show  thy- 
self worthy,  and  thou  shalt  know.”  After  shameful  ill-treat- 
ment by  the  mob,  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  peace- 
fully expired. 

But  the  glory  of  this  great  battle  for  the  Faith  seems  by 
unanimous  consent  to  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Blandina  a poor 
female  slave,  whose  mistress  like  herself  was  among 

^ Blandina. 

the  confessors.  The  fiendish  atrocities  inflicted  upon 
this  woman  are  minutely  described  in  the  letter  written  by  the 
survivors.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  as  her  apparent  weakness 
led  the  heathen  to  suppose  her  an  easy  prey,  so  her  unexpected 
firmness  and  almost  miraculous  vitality  provoked  their  malice  to 
a point  of  insatiable  fury.  Every  device  of  cruelty  was  .ex- 
hausted upon  her  and  upon  her  brother,  a lad  of  fifteen  years  of 
age.  To  sustain  the  courage  of  this  latter  seems  to  have  been 
her  principal  concern.  Amid  the  horrors  of  such  scenes,  it  is 
delightful  to  observe  the  reverence  and  affection  with  which  her 
heroic  struggle  was  witnessed  by  her  companions.  From  a 
feeble  slave  she  was  exalted  in  their  eyes  into  a princess  xhe  Lowly 
mighty  with  God,  a true  mother  in  Israel.  Her  pres- 
ence  pervades  the  good  fight  of  Faith  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end. 


6^ 


130 


History  of  the  Church. 


The  confessors  who  survived  bore  their  honors,  we  are  told, 
with  meekness  and  moderation. ^ They  humbled  themselves 

under  the  mighty  Hand  by  which  they  had  been  so 

Good  Sense  > 

o/  the  honorably  exalted.  They  defended  all  their  brethren 

Confessors, 

who  had  lapsed,  they  criminated  none:  they  loosed 
all,  they  bound  none.*^  The  spirit  of  S.  John,  it  is^plain,  was 
still  mighty  in  the  Churches. 

It  needs  only  to  be  added  that  the  narrative  from  which  this 
Their  chapter  is  taken  was  written^  by  one  of  the  survivors. 
Epistle,  mother  Churches  in  Asia  Minor.  The 

witness  unto  blood  before  the  heathen  was  accompanied  also  with 
a protest  against  the  new  Prophets,  probably  the  Mon- 
tanists,  by  whom  the  peace  of  the  Church  had  been  for 
some  time  disturbed.  Another  letter,  with  the  same 
condemnation  of  the  rising  heresy,  addressed  to  Eleutherus, 
then  Bishop  of  Rome,^  was  sent  by  the  hand  of  the  Presbyter 
Irenaeus,  with  a testimonial  to  his  character  which  his  subse- 
quent career  in  the  Church  proves  to  have  been  well  deserved. 

In  other  parts  of  Gaul,  and  in  Rome  and  other  cities  of 
Italy,  the  persecution  raged  for  some  time,  and  added  many 
Troubles  names  to  the  roll  of  the  Martyrs.  It  was  accompanied 
elsewhere,  qj-  jggg  pestilence,  and  famine ; in  the 

midst  of  all  which  we  get  but  occasional  and  unsatisfactory 
The  Prun-  glimpses  of  the  state  of  Gallic  Christianity.  About 
Vine.  ^ the  end  of  the  century  another  persecution  came,  and 
proved  still  more  fatal  to  the  Church  in  Lyons.  But  here,  as 


The  new 
Prophets 
condemned. 


3 The  emphasis  laid  upon  this  and  similar  traits  in  the  letter  of  the  con- 
fessors shows  that  a different  spirit  had  already  begun  to  show  itself. 

4 Euseb.  V.  1-4. 

5 The  phrase  here  employed — rwv  EKKArjaiuv  tlprjvrjq  eveku  ttpegSevovte^ 
— **  negotiating  for  the  peace  of  the  Churches” — and  the  fact  that  the  martyrs 
in  prison  had  written  several  letters  on  the  subject,  seem  to  countenance  the 
supposition  that  Eleutherus  was  the  Bishop  mentioned  by  Tertullian  (Adv, 
jPrax.)  who  favored  the  new  prophets.  See  Valesius  ad  Euseb.  v.  3.  There 
are  not  facts  enough  to  determine  the  question ; but  the  statement  of  Tertullian 
seems  to  accord  better  with  the  impetuous  character  of  Victor,  the  successor 
of  Eleutherus. 


Justin  Martyr.  1 3 1 

elsewhere,  the  early  proverb  was  verified,  that  the  more  the 
grass  is  cut,  the  more  it  grows  : the  more  the  vine  is  pruned,  the 
more  choice  and  abundant  is  the  vintage.  The  blood  of  the 
Gallic  Martyrs  proved  to  be  the  seed  of  an  unfailing  and  increas- 
ing harvest. 


CHAPTER  V. 

JUSTIN  MARTYR. 

Justin,  surnamed  the  Martyr,  a title  won  by  his  apologetic  pen, 
as  well  as  sealed  by  his  blood  in  witness  of  the  Truth,  was  a 
native  of  Neapolis,  a city  of  Samaria,  and  probably  of 
heathen  parentage.  He  was  born  about  the  beginning  search  of 

Truth. 

of  the  second  century.  Tormented  from  early  youth 
by  an  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge,  he  put  himself  first  under 
the  tuition  of  a famous  Stoic  / but  finding,  upon  trial,  that  the 
man  could  teach  him  nothing  with  reference  to  God,  and  that 
he  rather  despised  the  earnest  inquiries  of  his  pupils,  he  repaired 
to  the  school  of  an  able  and  subtle  Professor  of  Peri-  His 
patetic  wisdom.  Him  he  found,  however,  to  be  a wor- 
shipper  of  gold  as  the  smmnum  donum,  and  indifferent  to  all 
truth  that  had  not  a marketable  value.  Justin,  therefore,  left 
him  in  disgust.  At  length,  hearing  of  a learned  Pythagorean, 
who  had  the  reputation  of  being  quite  inaccessible  to  the  charms 
of  money,  he  determined  to  throw  himself  at  his  feet,  and  to 
become,  if  permitted,  one  of  his  disciples.  The  philosopher 
seems  to  have  been  nothing  more  than  a pompous  charlatan. 
He  possessed,  however,  no  little  capacity  for  words,  and  in  the 
science  of  his  school  imagined  he  had  a key  to  all  knowledge, 

* Dialog,  cum  Tryphone  yudcso.  The  slightly  romantic  tinge  of  this 
narrative  does  not  impair  its  credibility ; it  merely  gives  us  a better  insight 
into  the  amiable  but  earnest  character  of  the  martyr.  Eusebius  makes  Ephe- 
sus the  scene  of  this  Dialogue,  iv.  i8. 


132 


History  of  the  Church. 

human  and  divine.  ^^Tell  me/^  says  he  to  the  eager  aspirant, 
^^are  you  an  adept  in  music,  astronomy,  and  geometry?  For 
by  these  sciences  alone  can  you  learn  to  abstract  the  soul  from 
sensible  objects,  and  fix  it  in  contemplation  of  what  is  beautiful 
in  itself.”  Justin,  however,  knew  little  of  the  stars.  Perhaps 
Physical  he  cared  little  for  them.  God,  he  felt,  was^nearer  to 
Science.  could  put  no  Confidence  in  a system 

which  professed  to  seek  Him  by  climbing  up  into  the  heights 
of  the  physical  heavens,  or  by  descending  into  the  deep  of  la- 
borious intellectual  abstractions.  Grieved,  and  sick  at  heart, 
therefore,  he  turned  from  the  Pythagorean,  and  began  to  look 
elsewhere  for  help  in  his  spiritual  need. 

His  next  experience  was  in  connection  with  some  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Plato.  Here  he  was  better  satisfied.  In  the  world  of 
Becomes  a richly  imaginative  and  mystic  speculation  into  which 
piatomst.  teachers  introduced  him,  his  soul  began  to 

warm  and  to  expand  ; his  mind  was  at  least  agreeably  occupied ; 
and  though  his  heart  was  not  as  yet  filled  with  the  knowledge 
which  alone  could  give  it  rest,  he  began  to  feel,  as  it  were,  the 
budding  of  the  wings  which  were  to  lift  it  above  self.  Hope,  in 
other  words,  revived  within  him.  Intoxicated  with  a vague  but 
delicious  sense  of  spiritual  beauty,  he  seemed  to  himself  to  be  just 
upon  the  verge  of  the  crowning  joy.  The  unrealities  of  sense 
were  fading  from  his  view,  and  the  vision  of  true  being,  nay,  of 
God  himself,  might  open  upon  him  in  a moment.  So  full  was 
Philosophic  he  of  this  expectation,  so  earnest  and  real  in  the  midst 
Dreams.  ^ cloud  of  pliilosophic  dreams,  that  he  determined 
to  withdraw  himself  entirely  from  the  tumult  of  the  world,  and 
selecting  the  loneliest  spot  he  could  find  on  the  seashore,  there 
to  await  in  silence  and  meditation  the  fulfilment  of  his  hopes. 

Nor  was  he  disappointed  altogether  in  his  confident  expec- 
tation. He  who  heareth  the  young  ravens  that  call  upon  Him, 
would  not  turn  a deaf  ear  to  so  earnest  a seeker  as  the 
with  an  eager  and  unselfish  Platonician.  As  Justin  walked  and 
Evangelist,  witliiii  hearing  of  the  multitudinous  voices  of 

the  sea,  he  was  met  by  a grave  old  man  of  a certain  sweetness 


133 


yustin  Martyr. 

of  expression.  The  philosopher  was  charmed.  He  stopped, 
and,  unconsciously  to  himself,  fixed  his  eyes  eagerly  upon  the 
stranger.  ^‘Do  you  know  me/’  said  the  latter,  ‘-that  you 
gaze  so  earnestly  upon  me?”  No,”  answered  Justin,  ‘‘I 
am  only  surprised  to  meet  one  like  you  in  this  solitary  place.” 

I am  h^e,”  said  the  stranger,  because  my  soul  is  disquieted 
on  account  of  certain  of  my  friends.  They  are  tossed  on 
the  sea,  and  I am  anxious  to  find  them,  or  hear  tidings  of 
them.” 

The  acquaintanc’e  thus  mysteriously  begun  ripened  soon  into 
confidence  and  friendship.  Justin  discoursed  of  what  was  up- 
permost in  his  mind,  the  beauty  and  the  sweetness  of  . . 

true  philosophy.  To  know  what  really  is,  to  seek  and 
love  the  Truth,  this,  he  declared,  is  the  only  thing 
worth  living  for,  the  only  thing  to  fill  and  satisfy  the  heart.  To 
his  surprise  he  found  the  stranger  more  at  home  on  such  subjects 
than  himself.  Without  any  scientific  pretension  he  The  School 
spoke  of  the  nature  of  God,  of  the  soul,  of  the  true  chnst. 
philosophy  of  life,  with  a tranquillity  and  assurance  that  capti- 
vated the  ingenuous  seeker,  and  led  him  finally  to  the  conclusion 
that  if  he  was  to  make  any  progress  in  heavenly  wisdom,  he 
must  begin  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder,  and  become  a 
disciple  in  the  school  of  Jesus  Christ. 

To  this,  however,  he  had  to  be  led  gradually,  the  prejudices 
against  Christianity  being  as  gross  among  the  well-instructed 
heathen  as  among  the  rabble,  and  far  more  inveterate.  ^ , 

° ^ study 

His  teacher,  therefore,  was  content  to  introduce  him  ^ of  the 

Scriptures. 

to  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  Struck  with  the 
sublimity  and  beauty  of  these  sacred  writings,  he  studied  them 
with  single-hearted  earnestness;  thus  laying  the  foundation  of 
that  hermeneutic  skill  which  he  ever  afterwards  regarded  as  his 
charisma,  or  spiritual  gift.  From  the  Old  he  was  led  easily  into 
the  New.  The  real  character  of  Christianity,  and  the  prejudices 
truth  with  regard  to  the  life  and  conversation  of  its 
professors,  began  to  dawn  upon  him.  had  heard  much 

against  them,”  says  he,  ^‘and  shared  in  the  common  delusion. 


134 


History  of  the  Church. 

But  when  I considered  their  courage  in  encountering  death  and 
every  other  terror,  I felt  at  once  that  they  could  not  be  guilty 
of  the  crimes  of  which  they  were  accused.  To  a mere  voluptu- 
ary, to  a shameless  debauchee,  to  one  who  takes  delight  in  eat- 
ing human  flesh,  death  cannot  prove  otherwise  than  terrible ; for 
it  puts  on  end  to  the  gross  pleasures  in  which  they  spend  their 
life.  The  Christians,  however,  welcome  death  with  joy.’’* 
Considerations  of  this  kind  opened  the  way  to  inquiry,  and 
inquiry  led  to  satisfaction  and  conviction. 

That  he  ever  entered  the  ministry  is  extremely  doubtful. ^ 
Indeed,  in  the  absence  of  any  positive  proof  that  he  did,  it 
Justin's  seems  more  probable  that  he  found  his  ‘^gift’'  could 
Calling,  exercised  to  greater  advantage  under  the  garb  of  a 
philosopher,  and  in  the  freedom  of  lay  life,  than  amid  the  con- 
fining and  pressing  duties  of  the  ordinary  priesthood.  Certain 
it  is  that  he  visited  many  countries,  and  had  argumentative  dis- 
Puhiic  Dis-  cussions  both  with  Jews  and  Greeks.  His  controversy 
cussions.  Ephesus  with  Trypho,  a learned  Jew  who  had  sur- 
vived the  horrors  of  the  insurrection  of  Bar  Cochba,  and  his  two 
Apologies,  addressed,  the  one  to  the  Emperor  Aurelius,  and  the 
other  to  the  Roman  Senate  and  People,  with  some  other  works 
or  fragments  of  works,  remain  to  show  the  way  in  which  these 
discussions  were  conducted.  Without  going  into  an  analysis  of 
any  of  these  writings,^  it  is  worth  while  to  notice,  that  Justin 
interpreted  both  Hebrew  and  Greek  learning  on  the  same  gen- 
eral principles ; finding  in  both  innumerable  types  or  foreshad- 
christ  owings  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel ; and  making  all 
earnest  thought  of  all  ages,  and  all  races,  to  centre,  as 
it  were,  in  the  incarnate  Word,  to  point  towards  Him,  and  in 
Him  to  receive  its  complete  and  harmonious  interpretation. 

* Apol.  i. 

3 Tillemont  thinks  he  was  a Presbyter — Mem.  pour  servir.  vol.  ii.  part  2 
— but  on  insufficient  grounds. 

^Account  of  the  Writings  and  Opinions  of  fustin  Martyr  : John  (Kaye), 
Bishop  of  Lincoln.  Justin,  d.  Martyrer^  Semisch,  translated  by  Ryland,  and 
published  in  Clark's  Biblical  Cabinet,  Volckmar,  die  Zeit,  ds.  Just,  M, 


• Justin  Martyr.  135 

Thus,  not  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  only,  but  the  Poets  and 
Philosophers,  were  fulfilled  in  Christ. 

In  fact,  the  Logos,  the  First-born  of  God,  who  is  also  God, 
being  from  all  eternity  immanent  in  God,  but  coming  forth  from 
God  for  creation,  was  regarded  by  Justin  as  the  seed^  The 
light  to  the  ages  that  preceded  the  revelation  of  the 
Gospel ; so  that  upright  heathen,  Socrates  for  example,  were 
undeveloped  believers,  being  obedient  to  the  light  that  was  in 
them.  5 On  this  ground  he  apologizes  for  the  lateness  of  the 

Incarnation.  As  the  first  days  of  the  creation  had  light  enough 
for  growth,  though  destitute  as  yet  of  sun  and  moon  and  stars, 
so  with  the  ages,  and  the  races,  among  which  Christ  was  unre- 
vealed. Justin,  therefore,  would  not  deny  the  good  that  ex- 
isted in  heathendom ; he  preferred  showing  how  it  pointed  to  a 
far  greater  good.  It  was  somewhat  inconsistent  with  all  this, 
that  he  ascribed  the  numerous  ceremonies  which  pagan  worship 
had  in  common  with  Christianity,  to  the  malicious  apery  of 
daemons ; these  latter  mimicking  the  truth  in  order  to  make  it 
odious.^  In  tracing  the  unconscious  prophecies  of  heathen 
poetry  and  philosophy,  or  even  of  heathen  oracles,  Justin,  it 
must  be  confessed,  is  not  very  critical ; quoting  oftentimes  from 
works  unquestionably  spurious,  and  some  of  them  fabrications 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

In  his  treatment  of  matters  of  faith,  and  especially  in  dealing 
with  the  great  mysteries  of  the  Creed,  his  orthodoxy  in  general 
is  beyond  all  question.  As  an  interpreter,  however,  to  justifCs 
Jews  and  Greeks,  and  as  one  of  the  earliest  who  at-  raith. 

tempted,  so  to  speak,  to  translate  the  language  of  simple  faith 
into  the  dialect  of  philosophers  and  disputers,  he  is  betrayed 
occasionally  into  modes  of  expression,  which  at  a later  period 
would  hardly  have  been  considered  admissible,  or  safe.  In  all 
cases  the  phraseology  of  early  writers  has  to  be  received  with  a 

5 The  Logos  endiathetos — Logos  prophoricos — Logos  spermatic  os.  See 
Neander’s  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Christian  Dogmas. 

^ e.  g.,  Bread  and  wine  used  in  the  mysteries  of  Mithras;  and  baptisms, 
or  ablutions,  in  almost  all  forms  of  heathen  worship. 


136 


History  of  the  Church. 


certain  allowance. ^ It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  the  first 
attempts  to  give  a philosophic  or  scientific  form  to  truths  com- 
monly received  in  the  Church  should  be  entirely  conclusive. 
The  wonder  is,  not  that  we  find  some  objectionable  phrases  in  the 
early  fathers,  or  some  untenable  positions,  but  that  we  find  so  few. 

With  regard  to  matters  of  opinion,  or  interpretation,  Justin 
fell  into  some  mistakes  from  too  careless  a following  of  the  letter 
His  of  Holy  Scripture.  He  was  an  advocate  of  the  Millen- 
Ofinions.  ^Lvisin  doctrine.  From  a notion  that  the  sons  of  God 
mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis  were 
Angels,  he  favored  the  absurd  hypothesis  that  children  were  be- 
gotten by  them  of  the  daughters  of  men,  and  that  the  offspring 
thus  begotten  became  Daemons  of  the  Gentiles.  It  is  more  to 
his  credit,  that  he  departed  from  a common  prejudice  of  his 
day,  in  allowing  a possibility  of  salvation  to  Jewish  Christians® 
who  conscientiously  continued  in  the  observance  of  the  Law. 

As  a witness  to  the  religious  customs  of  Christians  in  his 
day,  Justin  speaks  with  less  reserve  than  was  common  with  early 
Religious  writers,  and  gives  us  the  most  exact  information  we 
have  : the  outline  he  presents  supplying  some  feat- 
ures of  ritual  in  which  Pliny’s  famous  letter  is  deficient.^ 

7 For  example,  creation  and  generation  were  for  some  time  more  or  less 
confounded.  In  the  tenth  chapter  of  Bishop  Kaye’s  Writings  of  fustin 
Martyr  the  reader  will  find  a summary  of  Justin’s  views,  as  illustrated  by 
passages  from  Tatian,  Athenagoras,  and  Theophilus. 

^ His  lenient  way  of  speaking  of  the  Ebionite  denial  of  the  Divinity  of 
Christ,  in  the  Dialogue  with  Trypho,  viz.,  I do  not  agree  with  because 
I have  been  taught  not  to  follow  men,  but  the  declarations  of  Christ  and  the 
Prophets” — has  been  regarded  by  some  as  indicative  of  a certain  laxness  in 
his  views.  I should  rather  infer  the  reverse.  The  firmer  a man’s  faith,  the 
better  he  can  afford  to  use  mild  language. 

9 Kaye’s  fustin  M.  chap.  iv.  Among  the  particulars  mentioned,  we 
may  notice,  ( i ) the  doctrine  of  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist,  in  which  the  grace 
given  is  much  insisted  on;  (2)  the  careful  preparation  (fasting  and  prayer); 
(3)  the  kiss  of  peace;  (4)  wine  mixed  with  water  in  the  Eucharist;  (5)  the 
bearing  of  a portion  to  the  absent ; (6)  separation  of  the  Eucharist  from  the 
Love  Feast;  (7)  special  observance  of  Sunday;  (8)  alms  for  orphans,  wid- 
ows, etc.  Apolog.  i. 


137 


Justin  Martyr. 

Judging  from  his  account,  neither  Baptism  nor  the  Eucharist 
had  received  any  ceremonial  additions  to  the  severe  simplicity 
of  Apostolic  times.  In  describing  the  administration  of  the 
Lord’s  Supper,  he  seems  to  have  followed  the  order  of  the 
Service  now  known  as  that  of  S.  James. 

The  latter  portion  of  his  life  was  spent  by  the  Apologist  in 
Rome,  remaining  all  day  at  his  house  near  the  baths  of  Timo- 
His  theus,  and  conversing  freely  with  those  who  came  to 

Confession,  instruction  or  discussion.  During  this  period 

he  incurred  the  fixed  hatred  of  the  Stoic  Crescens,  whom  he 
handled  somewhat  roughly  in  argument,  and  to  whose  influence 
in  high  quarters  he  was  probably  indebted  for  the  Martyr’s 
.crown.  According  to  the  Acts  of  his  Martyrdom,"  a piece 
authenticated  by  its  primitive  modesty  and  simplicity,  he.  was 
brought,  with  several  other  Christians,  before  the  tribunal  of 
Junius  Rusticus,  Prefect  of  the  City,  not  long  before  the  death 
of  S.  Polycarp."  Obey  the  will  of  the  Gods  and  the  com- 
mands of  the  Emperor”  was,  as  usual,  the  opening  of  the  trial. 
In  Justin’s  reply,  there  is  little  of  the  sententious  brevity  or 
dignified  reserve  of  a Polycarp  or  Pothinus ; nor  does  he  take 
refuge  in  the  simple  Christianus  sum,  that  ringing  anvil-note  of 
Lyonnese  Sanctus  : his  attitude  has  more  of  the  dialectician  ; — 
a man  of  faith,  indeed,  but  ready  and  even  eager  to  give  a 
reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  There  is  nothing  to  rep- 
rehend in  a man,  who  obeys  the  commands  of  our  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ.”  But  what  is  your  profession  ? ” says  Rusticus, 
to  what  school  do  you  belong?”  ‘^I  once  strove,”  he  replied, 
to  become  acquainted  with  every  school  of  philosophy,  and  to 
make  myself  master  of  every  science  ; but  having  sought  the 
Truth  on  all  sides  without  success,  I finally  embraced  the  philos- 
ophy of  the  Christians,  not  considering  whether  it  pleased  or 

Palmer’s  Origines  Liturg. ; Asseman.  Cod.  Liturg.  tom.  v. 

Given  in  Baronins  ; also  in  Tillemont. 

The  dates  are  uncertain  : Polycarp’s  death  is  variously  stated  at  147, 
175?  Justin’s  is  put  as  early  as  165.  I have  put  Justin  Poly  carp 

and  Pothimus,  merely  as  belonging  to  a later  period  of  intellectual  culture. 


138 


History  of  the  Church. 

displeased  the  votaries  of  error/^  Wretched  man!”  cried 
the  Prefect,  you  follow  that  doctrine,  then?  ” Yes,  I follow 
that  doctrine,  and  with  joy,  for  it  shows  me  the  Truth.”  ‘‘But 
what  is  Truth?”  “The  Truth,”  answered  Justin,  “is  to 
^ , believe  in  one  God,  who  created  all  things,  visible 
and  invisible,  and  to  confess  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
the  Son  of  God,  announced  long  ago  by  the  Prophets,  Who  is 
to  come  again  to  judge  all  men,  and  Who  is  the  Saviour,  as 
well  as  the  Teacher  of  His  true  Disciples.  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  pretend  to  speak  worthily  of  His  infinite  greatness  or  of 
his  Divinity.  Such  a theme  belongs  rather  to  the  Prophets, 
who  so  long  before  predicted  His  coming  upon  earth.”  The 
Prefect  then  asked  him,  in  what  place  the  Christians  assembled 
for  their  worship.  “ We  assemble  where  we  can,”  said  Justin 
“God  is  not  confined  to  any  place.  Invisible,  He  fills  the 
Heavens  and  the  Earth,  and  the  faithful  adore  Him  everywhere : 
in  every  place  they  offer  Him  the  honor  and  worship  due  unto 
His  Name.” 

After  some  further  questions,  Rusticus  addressed  himself  to 
the  companions  of  Justin.  Carito  and  Caritina  answered. 
His  Com-  that  by  the  goodness  of  God  they  were  Christians. 
Ramons.  Euelpistus  Said,  “I  am  a slave  of  Caesar,  but  a Chris- 
tian. Jesus  Christ,  by  His  grace,  hath  made  me  free.”  Hierax 
and  Liberianus  acknowledged  themselves  servants  and  adorers 
of  the  only  true  God.  Seeing  little  chance  of  making  an 
impression  upon  these  simple  folk,  and  feeling,  it  may  be,  more 
interest  in  the  fate  of  their  accomplished  leader,  the  Prefect 
turned  to  Justin  once  more,  and  addressed  him  in  a banter- 
ing tone:  “You  are  a man  with  a tongue  in  your  head,  and 
a professor,  it  would  seem,  of  the  genuine  philosophy.  Tell 
me,  then,  I pray,  do  you  really  believe  that  if  I have  you 
scourged  from  head  to  foot,  you  will  straightway  go  up  to 
^ Heaven?”  “Yes,”  said  Justin,  “if  you  have  me 
scourged,  I hope  to  receive  the  reward  promised  to 
all  those  who  keep  the  commandments  of  Christ : for  I know 
that  all  who  live  by  this  rule  shall  be  the  friends  of  God.” 


139 


yustin  Martyr. 


Spirit 
of  the 
Heathen, 


You  think,  then,’’  said  the  Prefect,  that  you  are  going  up  to 
Heaven  to  be  rewarded  there?  ” Not  only  do  I think  it,” 
answered  Justin,  but  I know  it : and  that,  too,  assuredly  and 
beyond  all  doubt.” 

The  examination  was  followed  by  the  usual  command  to 
sacrifice  to  idols;  which  the  prisoners  unanimously  Martyr- 
refusing  to  do,  they  were  scourged, and  soon  after- 
wards  beheaded. 

In  this  trial,  as  indeed  in  all  controversies  of  that  day,  with 
Jews  or  Gentiles,  Christianity  had  to  cope  with  that  hard,  and 
keen,  and  exquisitely  polished  irony,  which  is  one  of  Scoffing 
the  fruits  of  a merely  intellectual  civilization,  and 
which  to  simple  faith  is  the  most  horrible  of  all 
weapons.  Men  of  the  school  of  S.  Polycarp  avoided  it,  no 
doubt,  by  a holy  and  dignified  reserve.  The  time  was  come, 
however,  for  a closer  and  more  deadly  struggle  with  the  powers 
of  darkness.  It  is  much  to  Justin  Martyr’s  credit,  that  in  his 
dialogues,  apologies,  and  discussions  generally,  he  was  suffi- 
ciently free-spoken,  but  not  unnecessarily  harsh  or  rude.  On 
the  contrary,  he  answers  sneers  generally  with  admirable  tem- 
per ; and  a love  of  souls  is  almost  as  conspicuous  in  his  writings 
as  a zeal  for  the  Truth.  His  own  very  gradual  conversion  led 
him  to  look  hopefully  upon  the  various  stages  of  approximate 
belief  and  partial  knowledge. 

Among  his  disciples  was  Tatian,  an  Assyrian,  who  wrote 
with  some  earnestness  in  defence  of  ‘‘the  philosophy  of  the  bar- 
barians,” as  he  styled  the  Gospel,  but  was  afterwards  Tatian  his 
led  by  his  austerity  of  temper  into  Gnostic  errors.  D^^^ipie, 
The  “ Epistle  to  Diognetus,”  a choice  rhetorical  production  of 
some  Christian  Apologist  who  wrote  early  in  the  century,  has 
been  ascribed  to  Justin  Martyr,  but  on  no  sufficient  grounds. 


*3  As  Justin,  it  is  supposed,  had  the  right  of  citizenship,  the  scourging 
here  mentioned  throws  a shade  of  doubt  upon  the  genuineness  of  these  acts. 
But  (i)  his  citizenship  is  not  certain;  and  (2)  even  if  it  were,  the  Roman 
Magistrates  were  not  always  scrupulous  about  such  rights  in  the  case  of 
Christians. 


140 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  APOLOGETIC  AGE. 

The  last  third  of  the  second  century,  the  period  that  followed 
the  persecution  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  is  uneventful  so  far  as 
End  of  the  cxtemal  history  is  concerned,  but  full  of  growing 
Century,  interest  with  regard  to  matters  of  discipline  and 
doctrine. 

During  the  reign  of  Aurelius,  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis, 
wrote  to  the  Emperor  his  Apology  for  a Faith,  which  had  come 
in,  he  urged,  with  the  Empire  itself,  but  was  left 
without  redress  to  the  capricious  violence  of  the  mob. 
He  was  a highly  gifted  man,  and  among  his  contemporaries 
enjoyed  the  reputation  of  a Prophet.  He  drew  up  a canon  of 
the  Old  Testament,  containing  only  the  received  Books  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  The  variety  of  subjects  on  which  he  wrote* 
is  enough  to  show  that  the  holy  diffidence  which  had  produced 
so  long  a spell  of  silence  in  the  Church  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  was  fast  giving  way  before  the  pressure  of  the  times. 

Claudius  Apollinaris,  Bishop  of  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia,  wrote 
an  Apology ; and  was  not  a little  troubled  by  the  rising  heresy 
other  of  Montanus.  Of  other  names  indicative  of  the  awak- 
Apoiogists.  intellect  of  the  day,  it  is  enough  to  mention,  in 

this  place,  Miltiades,  an  Apologist;  Hermias,  who  ridiculed  the 
paradoxes  of  the  philosophers ; Athenagoras  an  Athenian 
philosopher ; Theophilus,  the  sixth  Bishop  of  Antioch,  who 
introduced  the  term  trias ; Tatian  a disciple  of  Justin  Martyr, 
and  Bardesanes  an  elegant  writer  of  Edessa,  both  of  whom  fell 
into  Gnostic  errors ; Musanus,  who  strove  against  the  plausible 
* Euseb.  iv.  26. 


The  Apologetic  Age.  141 

error  which  went  under  the  name  of  encraty  or  continence; 
Minucius  Felix  and  Tertullian  in  North  Africa ; Irenseus  and  his 
disciples ; the  writers  of  the  Alexandrine  School,  of  whom,  as 
of  some  others  above  mentioned,  there  will  be  occasion  to  speak 
more  particularly  in  another  place.*  The  title  Apologetic 
Age,'*  applied  to  this  period,  has  to  be  understood  in  a large 
sense ; for  the  controversy  with  heretics  was  conducted  with 
even  greater  vigor  than  the  defence  of  the  Gospel  against  the 
heathen. 

On  the  other  hand.  Heathenism  was  no  longer  content  to 
assail  the  Faith  with  the  weapons  of  fanatical  fury  merely,  or  of 
a variable  state  policy.  Philosophy  was  awakened  to  Heathen 
a sense  of  its  own  danger. ^ Crescens  and  Fronto 
endeavored  by  vile  calumnies  to  fortify  Aurelius  with  a valid 
plea  for  persecution.  Lucian  impartially  derided  all  the  relig- 
ions of  his  times,  and  found  a butt  for  his  satiric  humor  in  the 
zeal  of  Martyrs  and  Confessors.  Celsus  confounded  Christianity 
with  the  dreams  of  Gnostic  sects,  and,  avoiding  the  ground 
of  vulgar  paganism,  assailed  it,  now  with  the  light  missiles  of 
Epicurean  indifferentism,  now  with  the  heavier  metal  of  the 
Platonic  philosophy.  As  the  controversy  proceeded,  the  adver- 
saries of  the  Gospel  resorted  more  and  more  to  this  method  of 
attack.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Christian  name  could  be  made  to 
cover  an  ever  increasing  number  of  absurd  and  wicked  sects ; on 
the  other,  philosophy,  through  the  influence  of  the  diffused 
light  of  truth,  was  becoming  more  intellectual  and  more  spiritual 
than  it  had  hitherto  appeared.  The  new  Platonic  School  began 
to  flourish  in  Alexandria  towards  the  end  of  the  cen- 

New 

tury.  Ammonius  Saccas,  one  of  its  first  teachers,  was 
acquainted  with  Christianity.  So  also  was  Plotinus, 
and  at  a later  period  Porphyry,  the  latter  of  whom  was  hostile 

2 See  Euseb.  iv.  21-30;  v.  13,  18,  19. 

3 The  argument  for  and  against  the  Gospel,  as  managed  in  early  times,  is 
accessible  to  English  readers  in  Reeves’s  Apologies  (Tertullian,  Justin  Martyr, 
Minucius  Felix) ; also  in  Bellamy’s  Origen  against  Celsus^  and  Humphrey’s 
Apologetics  of  Atkenagoras.  See  also  Oxford  Translations  of  the  Fathers. 


.142  ’ History  of  the  Church. 

to  the  Gospel  in  proportion  as  he  drew  from  it  his  noblest  and 
best  thoughts. 

But  philosophers  of  this  kind  belonged  to  an  intellectual 
oligarchy,  and  had  little  influence  with  the  people.  They 
Apollonius  were  also  wonderfully  superstitious.^  The  wonder- 
o/Tyana,  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  a contemporary 

of  the  Apostles,  was  rescued  from  oblivion  by  rhetoricians  of 
this  school,  adorned  with  a profusion  of  unmeaning  miracles, 
and  setup  as  an  embodiment  of  .the  philosophic  perfect  man. 
A strict  vegetable  diet,  a pure  Attic  style,  a sententious  utter- 
ance of  commonplaces,  an  attempt  to  relieve  heathen  worship 
of  some  of  its  grosser  abominations,  a profound  contempt  for 
the  unenlightened  many,  and  an  appreciation  of  the  maxim  that 
knowledge  is  power,  are  prominent  features  of  the  ideal  thus 
The  Ideal  coustructcd  in  opposition  to  Christianity.  According 
Man.  them,  the  true  sages  dwell,  surrounded  with  a cloud 

and  armed  with  superhuman  resources,  on  a height  inaccessible 
to  the  common  herd.  The  soul  lives  after  death  separate  from 
the  body,  but  of  its  ultimate  destiny  it  is  unwise  to  inquire. 
Such  was  the  lesson  of  the  Life  of  Apollonius.^  The  poverty  of 
this  performance,  as  compared  with  the  matchless  Life  recorded 

4Porphyrius,  De  Vita  Ploiini,  found  in  Fabricii,  Bibliothec.  Groec.  lib.  iv. 
cap.  26.  Plotinus  professed  to  have  a god  for  his  familiar ; which  was  proved 
when  a certain  Egyptian  priest  of  Isis  attempted  to  call  up  the  daemon  of 
Plotinus ; for  instead  of  a daemon  a god  suddenly  appeared.  Vita  Plotin. 
cap.  10.  On  the  strength  of  this,  when  one  of  his  disciples  invited  him  to  go 
with  him  and  worship  the  gods,  Plotinus  answered,  “ They  should  come  to 
me,  not  I to  them.”  With  all  these  pretensions,  his  high  favor  with  Gal- 
lienus  and  the  Empress  could  not  obtain  for  him  the  gift  of  a ruined  city  in 
Campania,  to  establish  a Platonic  commonwealth : cap.  1 2.  The  Christians 
gloried,  therefore,  that  while  Platonic  wisdom  had  never  succeeded  in 
founding  a single  town,  the  words  of  a few  fishermen  were  becoming  a 
law  to  the  whole  world.  On  the  new  Platon.  Sch.  see  Degerando,  H.  de 
la  Phil. 

5 Life  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana^  translated  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Berwick. 
The  miracles  of  Apollonius  (as  Newman  shows  in  his  Apollon.  Tyan.)  are 
mere  juggling  wonders,  without  dignity  and  without  meaning.  After  his 
death,  his  ghost  appeared  to  a young  disciple,  but  gave  him  no  information. 


The  Apologetic  Age.  143 

in  the  four  Gospels,  shows  that  Christianity  had  little  to  fear 
from  the  rivalry  of  philosophers. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  Church  had  a season  of  comparative 
immunity  from  political  persecution.  The  Emperor  Aurelius, 
moved  by  a Providential  deliverance  of  his  army  from 
the  Quadi  and  Marcomanni,^  which  the  Christians 
ascribed  to  the  prayers  of  certian  soldiers  of  their  own  in  the 
‘‘Thundering  Legion,’^  became,  at  length,  weary  of  a fruitless 
persecution,  and  issued  a severe  edict  against  informers.  That 
the  event  referred  to  awakened  a religious  feeling  in  the  mind 
of  the  Emperor  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  seems  equally  cer- 
tain that  his  own  thanks  were  rendered  to  Jupiter  Pluvius.  It 
may  easily  have  been,  however,  that,  his  mind  being  restored 
for  the  time  being  to  something  of  its  early  childlike  faith, ^ he 
looked  more  indulgently  upon  religious  fervor  in  general,  and 
was  therefore  disposed  to  be  more  tolerant  of  the  peculiar  zeal 
of  the  Christians.  For  it  was  the  lively  faith  of  the  Church, 
rather  than  its  doctrinal  system,  that  seems  hitherto  to  have 
moved  his  hatred. 

Commodus,  whose  atrocities  sprang  from  personal  caprice 
rather  than  from  any  political  or  religious  principle,  Commodus^ 
was  in  the  main  not  unfavorable  to  Christians ; and  180-192! 
Marcia,  his  mistress,  whom  he  honored  almost  as  an  Empress, 
used  her  influence  in  their  behalf.  Notwithstanding  Apollonius 
all  this,  there  were  martyrs  not  a few  in  this  reign.  ^ 
Apollonius,  a literary  man  and  philosopher  of  Rome,  a Sen- 

^ The  story  is  given  in  Eusebius,  v.  5.  The  name  Legio  Fubninea  was 
older,  however,  than  the  alleged  event ; and  Tertullian’s  account  is  qualified 
by  the  word  “ perhaps  ” — “ Christianorum  forte  militum.”  See  Gieseler, 
g 42,  n.  5,  and  Neander’s  Ch.  Hist.  i.  i. 

7 In  the  mind  of  Aurelius,  early  religious  feeling  had  to  struggle  against 
a hard  crust  of  stoic  fatalism.  It  was  in  this  latter  spirit  that  he  declared  : 
“Whosoever  shall  do  anything  to  disturb  the  minds  of  men  with  fear  of  the 
Divine  power  ...  let  him  be  banished,”  etc. ; or,  “ Whosoever  shall  bring  in 
novel  religions  ...  by  which  the  souls  of  men  may  be  troubled,  let  him,”  . . . 
etc.  He  hated  anything  fervid  or  moving  in  religion.  For  an  account  of  his 
religious  character  (perhaps  too  favorable),  see  Neander’s  Ch.  History. 


144 


History  of  the  Church. 


ator  by  rank,  was  condemned  on  the  testimony  of  a slave, 
and  beheaded,  after  a noble  apology  before  that  stronghold  of 
heathenism,  the  distinguished  body  to  which  he  belonged. 
At  the  same  time,  the  law  bearing  on  the  subject  being  admin- 
istered with  singular  impartiality,  the  wretch  who  accused  him 
was  also  put  to  death. 

Septimius  Severus,  it  is  said,^  had  been  healed  of  a sore 
disease  by  a Christian  of  the  name  of  Proculus,  afterwards  a 
Septimius  member  of  his  household  ; and  had  appointed  a Chris- 
tian  nurse  for  his  son  Antoninus.  If  not  actually 
192-211.  favorable  to  the  Church,  he  was  at  least  indisposed  to 
molest  it.  But  about  the  middle  of  his  reign  he  found  it  ne- 
cessary, as  he  thought,  to  prohibit  the  further  spread  of  the 
Gospel.  Proselyting  was  forbidden  both  to  the  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians. Finding,  however,  that  in  spite  of  his  decrees  the  tide 
continued  to  rise,  the  Emperor  was  at  length  induced  to  counte- 
sixtk  Per-  naucc  more  active  measures.  The  storm  that  ensued 
secution.  with  most  Severity  upon  Palestine  and  Egypt ; but 

was  felt  also  in  North  Africa,  Rome,  and  many  other  portions 
of  the  Church.  From  certain  expressions  of  Tertullian^  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  Severus  himself  was  actively  concerned  in 
this  persecution.  It  was  enough  that  he  allowed  it.  The  cruelty 
of  the  mob,  the  complaisance  or  cupidity  of  magistrates,  and  the 
hostility  of  Jews,  heathen,  and  philosophers,  would  easily  do  the 
rest.  For  to  other  causes  of  persecution  it  began  now  to  be 
added  that  there  were  Christians  wealthy  and  weak  enough  to 
purchase  for  themselves  an  exemption  from  martyrdom.  With- 
out sacrificing  to  idols  or  burning  incense,  they  might  procure 


^Tertull.  Ad  Scap.  iii.  4. 

9 Blunt’s  Lectures  on  the  Church  of  the  first  three  centuries  ; Mosheim’s 
Commentaries.  Tertullian  i^Apologet.  i.  5,  and  ad  Scap.  iii.  4)  is  anxious  to 
make  out  that  no  good  Emperor  persecuted  the  Christians,  and  no  really  good 
magistrate;  but  that  the  rabble  and  wicked  men  were  responsible.  He  there- 
fore strains  a point  in  favor  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  Severus,  and  others.  His 
language,  however,  merely  proves  that  these  Emperors  were  sometimes  favor- 
able to  the  Christians. 


145 


The  Apologetic  Age. 

a certificate  to  the  effect  that  they  had  done  so,  and  might  thus 
remain  unmolested.  These  were  called  Libellatici ; Libeiiatid. 
a class  that  figures  largely  in  the  history  of  Church  discipline 
during  the  third  century. 

Whole  communities,  it  is  said,  procured  exemption  in  this 
way.  It  was  a kind  of  evasion  as  impolitic  as  it  was  unjusti- 
fiable on  moral  grounds.^®  For  it  not  only  created  a new 
motive  for  persecution,  but  it  surrounded  Christians  at  all 
times  with  a crowd  of  greedy  spies  and  informers,  who  made 
a livelihood  out  of  their  fears  and  kept  them  in  a state  of  per- 
petual torture. 

Some  of  the  particulars  of  this  persecution  will  come  up 
incidentally  in  connection  with  events  hereafter  to  be  men- 
tioned. It  was  followed  by  a calm  of  thirty-eight  peace  of 
years,  interrupted  only  by  a brief  and  cruel  out- 
break  under  Maximin  the  Thracian,  which  is  reck-  a.d.2ii-249. 
oned  as  the  seventh  of  the  general  persecutions.  During  this 
interval  of  peace,  the  sun-worshipper  Elagabalus  wished  to 
blend  Christianity,  as  well  as  the  religion  of  Jews  and 

^ ° a.d.  235-238. 

Samaritans,  with  the  superstitious  worship  paid  to  his 
god.”  Alexander  Severus,  influenced  by  his  half-Christian 
mother  Julia  Mammaea,  was  disposed  to  admit  Christ  to  equal 
honors  in  the  sacrifices  offered  to  Abraham,  Orpheus,  and 
Apollonius  of  Tyana.*"*  Philip  the  Arabian  was  still  more  favor- 
able to  Christianity;  and  it  was  very  generally  thought  that 
intellectually,  at  least,  he  was  a believer. *3 

But,  as  already  intimated  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter, 
the  favor  or  disfavor  of  princes,  and  the  presence  or  absence  of 

*0  A worse  evasion  i^Can.  of  Ancyra^  i.)  was,  by  a previous  understand- 
ing with  the  magistrates,  to  undergo  a mere  sham  torture,  or  threats  of  tor- 
ture, without  being  placed  in  any  real  danger.  Shifts  of  this  sort  made  the 
Christians  more  careful  in  insisting  upon  actual  scars,  or  mutilations,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  claimed  to  be  confessors. 

**  Lampridius  in  Heliogab.  3. 

^^Lamprid.  in  S.  Alex,  22,  28,  29,  43,  45,  49. 

*3  Euseb.  vi.  34,  36.  His  conversion  is  elaborately  discussed,  and  dis- 
proved, in  Pagi,  Breviarium  Pontijic.  etc.  S,  Fabianus, 

7 , 


1 46  History  of  the  Church. 

external  persecutions,  were  no  longer  the  most  prominent  of  ihe 
trials  of  the  Church.  There  were  difficulties  from 

Trials 

Aom  within,  far  more  formidable.  What  these  were,  how 
they  were  encountered,  and  by  what  means  and  to 
what  extent  they  were  finally  vanquished,  shall  be  the  special 
theme  of  the  remaining  chapters  of  this  Book. 


♦ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HERESIES  Al^D  SCHOOLS. 

The  twofold  struggle  between  the  Gospel  and  the  Law,  and 
between  Faith  and  a false  Gnosis,  had  been  in  its  main  elements, 
and  so  far  as  it  was  a contest  for  supremacy  within  the 
Oiurch  Church,  substantially  decided  long  before  the  depart- 
ure of  the  last  of  the  Apostles.  In  doctrine,  discipline, 
and  worship,  the  Church  was  free  to  take  her  own  course ; hav- 
ing a creed,  a polity,  and  divinely  taught  sacraments  of  her 
own,  with  liberty  in  building  thereupon  to  avail  herself  of  what 
elements  of  natural  religion  she  might  find  to  accord  with  this 
foundation,  whether  sanctioned  or  not  by  Judaic  prejudices. 
_ . , In  the  same  way  with  regard  to  the  Gnostics,  it  was 

Neither  ' 

j^rvishnor  perfectly  understood  that  theirs  was  a Gnosis  falsely 
so  called.*^  In  developing,  therefore,  a Gnosis,  or 
religious  science  of  her  own,  the  Church  regarded  Gnostic  prin- 
ciples with  horror  and  aversion.  By  the  end  of  the  first  century 
she  was  Anti-Jewish  and  Anti-Gnostic  in  heart  and  mind  and 
confession. 

Hence,  Judaizing  Christians  soon  drew  off  into  obscure, 
and,  so  far  as  the  body  of  the  Church  was  concerned,  uninflu- 
I.  ential  sects.  In  the  great  cities,  however,  and  among 
Shcts.  the  mixed  multitudes,  half  Christian  half  Heathen,  the 
leaven  of  the  circumcision  was  still  powerful  enough  to  foment 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


147 


factions  and  divisions.  The  Nazarenes  and  Ebionites,  men- 
tioned in  the  first  Book  of  this  history,  flourished  chiefly  in 
Palestine. 

The  Clementine  Homilies,*  so  called,  remain  to  the  present 
day  as  proof  of  a very  ingenious  effort  made,  towards  the  end  of 
the  second  century,  to  fall  back  upon  a pretended  Theciem- 
prunitive  religion ; a “house  of  wisdom,’*  as  it  were, 
of  which  Adam,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Moses, 
should  be  the  “seven  pillars,”  Christ  also  being  acknowledged 
as  greatest  of  them  all.  This  system  was  remarkable  for  a full- 
blown doctrine  of  papal  supremacy  'p  James  of  Jerusalem,  how- 
ever, being  placed  at  its  head.  To  the  Judaic  elements  of  the 
system  there  was  added  a Gnostic  theory  of  emanations  in  pairs. 
These  Clementines  express  the  sentiments  of  the  Elxaite  school, 
but  were  probably  revamped  by  some  philosophic  Roman,  in  the 
interest  of  one  or  other  of  the  Judaizing  factions  which  troubled 
the  great  city. 

Hippolytus  gives  us  more  precise  information  of  the  Elxaites, 
a Judaic  Gnostic  sect,  a branch  of  which  came  to  Rome  during 
the  pontificate  of  Callistus.^  They  made  Christ  the 

* ^ ElxaiteSy 

male,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  the  female,  in  a series  of  (aboju) 

. A.D.  220. 

successive  manifestations  or  incarnations.  They  were 
ascetic  in  their  habits,  but  differed  from  most  ascetics  by  enjoin- 
ing early  marriage  as  a duty,  and  condemning  virginity.  To  that 
numerous  class  of  Christians,  whose  consciences  were  troubled 
by  the  sense  of  post-baptismal  sins,  or  who  were  undergoing 
Church  discipline,  they  offered  an  attractive  bait  in  a new  bap- 
tism with  plenary  absolution,  to  be  repeated  as  often  as  required. 
This  baptism  was  made  extremely  solemn  and  impressive.  The 

* dementis  Roman.  qu<2  feruntur  Homilice,  etc.,  Gott.  1853.  See  Giese- 
ler,  ? 5^  j SchafiT,  \ 69. 

2 Clement  addresses  James  as  “ the  lord,  and  bishop  of  bishops,  ruler  of 
the  holy  Church  of  the  Hebrews  in  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Churches  of  God 
established  everywhere.” 

3 S.  Hippolyti,  Omn.  HcEresium^  lib.  ix.  13.  The  state  of  the 

Roman  Church,  and  the  position  of  Hippolytus  towards  the  Bishops  of  the 
city,  are  more  fully  treated  in  ii.  9,  and  iii.  4,  of  this  History. 

# 


1 48  History  of  the  Chttrch. 

candidate  ^^was  immersed  in  the  Name  of  the  Most  High,  and 
of  His  Son  the  Great  King,  and  with  invocation  of 

Baptisms.  i i 1 . • 

the  seven  Witnesses,  sky  and  water,  and  holy  spirits, 
and  prayer-angels,  and  oil,  and  salt,  and  earth/’  In  the  name 
of  these  they  were  to  renounce  all  past  and  future  sin.  The 
gospel  of  these  Eixaites,  ‘‘Be  converted  and  baptized  eum  toto 
vesiitu,^'^  an  offer  of  free,  immediate,  and  unconditional 
pardon  to  all  sinners  of  every  sort ; and,  at  a time  when  the 
Church  required  a long  catechumenal  probation  before  baptism, 
and  a tedious  and  severe  penance  for  sins  committed  after,  it 
must  have  proved  a formidable  rival  to  the  orthodox  faith.  In 
addition  to  this,  there  were  pretensions  to  supernatural  powers ; 
a secret  doctrine  imparted  only  to  the  initiated ; great  reverence 
for  the  Sabbath ; and  an  affectation  of  severity  and  simplicity 
of  manners.  Hippolytus  complains  that  Callistus  paved  the  way 
Laxity  0/  for  this  heresy  by  liis  lax  administration  of  the  disci- 
Dtscipiine.  Cliurch.  It  is  more  probable  that  the 

activity  of  Sects  of  this  kind,  and  the  attractions  they  held  out 
to  the  mixed  multitude  of  half-believers,  rendered  a strict 
enforcement  of  the  canons  practically  impossible.  In  the  same 
way,  their  elaborate  and  significant  ceremonial  may  have  had 
an  influence  upon  the  development  of  ritual  in  the  Church. 

Men  who  started  with  the  assumption  common  to  all  the  phi- 
losophers of  antiquity, 5 that  evil  inheres  in  matter,  could  not  regard 

IX.  matter  or  the  material  world  as  a creature  of  the  supreme 
Gnosticism,  God.  Either  it  must  be  eternal,  or  it 

must  be  the  work  of  an  evil  power,  or  it  must  be  the  rubbish,  so 

For  baptism  in  the  Church,  candidates  had  to  be  divested  of  their  clothing 
— putting  off  the  old  and  putting  on  the  new.  The  opposite  custom  of  the 
Eixaites  was  probably  meant  to  signify  that  they  were  ready  to  receive  sinners 
just  as  they  were. 

5 Even  Plato : see  Gieseler,  \ 44,  notes  1-5.  The  tenets  of  the  Gnostic 
sects  belong  to  the  history  of  philosophy,  rather  than  of  religion.  The  ancient 
writers  on  the  subject  are  brought  together  in  the  Corpus  Hceresiologicum, 
Franciscus  Oehler,  Berolini.  There  is  quite  a full  account  of  early  heresies 
in  the  History  of  the  Church,  etc.,  by  Jeremie  and  others ; and  an  excellent 
digest  in  Dr.  Schaff ’s  History,  and  in  Robertson’s  Hist,  of  Ch. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


149 


to  speak,  that  remained  after  the  framing  of  the  spiritual  pie- 
roma,  or  it  must  be  the  result  of  some  negligence  or  accident 
with  which  the  one  absolute  and  true  Being  had  nothing  at  all 
to  do.  Hence  the  main  effort  of  Gnostic  speculations.  The 
material  world  and  the  evil  that  clings  to  it  must  be  God  and 
removed  as  far  as  possible  from  that  unfathomable  and  ^orid. 
silent  Deep,  the  Fountain  of  all  good.  Endless  genealogies 
must  be  framed,^  of  angels,  ceons^  or  emanations,  issu- 
ing  singly  or  in  pairs  through  a descending,  widening 
and  deteriorating  scale;  till  at  length,  in  the  dim  twilight 
beyond  the  outermost  circle  of  the  pleroma,  on  the  border  of 
light  and  darkness,  good  and  evil,  being  and  no  being,  we  find 
the  Demiurgus  blindly  working  : ‘‘  the  nether  intelligence,*’  the 
offspring  of  the  lowest  aeon,  the  ruler  of  the  darkness,  the  archi- 
tect of  this  material  world  constructing  out  of  ‘•emptiness” 
and  “nothingness”  a huge  prison-house;  wherein  the  lowest 
and  fallen  aeon,  the  feeblest  ray  of  the  world  of  light,  groans 
and  struggles  for  deliverance,  finding  an  articulate  voice  in  the 
“spiritual”  soul  of  man.  For  the  recovery  of  this  The  Lost 
“ lost  sheep,”  Christ  the  Saviour,  an  aeon  of  the  highest  sheep. 
order,  comes  down  into  the  world.  As  He  glides  through  the 
aeon-circles  He  forms  to  Himself  a body  of  ethereal  elements ; 
or  on  His  arrival  unites  Himself  for  awhile  to  the  earthly  body 
of  Jesus  ; or,  abhorring  all  communion  with  matter,  assumes  a 

^The  following  are  the  principal  points  of  the  system : (i)  The  primal 
Being — Buthos,  the  Abyss — Sige^  Silence — or  even  6 ovk  (jv,  nonentity;  (2) 
pleroma — the  living  sphere  of  ceons^  or  spiritual  emanations;  (3)  kenonia — the 
void  that  lies  beyond  that  sphere;  (4)  demiurgus — the  world-creator;  (5) 
hyle — matter;  (6)  pneumatic,  psychic,  hylic — spiritual,  sensuous,  material 
souls.  From  Christianity  they  borrowed  the  idea  of  a Saviour.  Dualism  is 
well  defined  by  Plato : ‘‘Not  by  one  soul  merely  is  the  world  moved,  but  by 
several  perhaps,  or  at  all  events  by  not  less  than  two ; of  which  the  one  is 
beneficent,  the  other  the  opposite,  and  a framer  of  the  opposite;  besides  which, 
there  is  also  a third  somewhere  between,  not  senseless,  nor  irrational,  nor  with- 
out self-motion,  but  touching  upon  both  of  the  twain,  yet  always  longing  for 
the  better,  and  following  after  it.*'  The  Persians  called  the  good  Ormuzd, 
the  evil  Ahriman,  and  the  intermediate  Mithras. 


150  History  of  the  Church. 

docetic  or  apparitional  body.  Once  on  earth,  He  becomes 
through  the  Holy  Spirit  the  light-centre  of  the  world.  To  Him 
all  ‘‘spiritual^’  souls  are  drawn  by  the  which  He  gives 

them/  material  ” or  hylic  souls  gravitate  towards  the  matter; 

psychic  souls,  Jews  or  ordinary  Christians,  hover  betwixt  the 
Salvation  two.  At  length,  in  one  way  or  another,  the  lost  ray 
by  Gnosis.  supemal  light  being  extricated  from  the  slough  or 
prison-house  of  matter,  and  united  to  the  highest  aeon  in  an 
everlasting  wedlock,  the  pleroma  is  rounded  off  into  a complete 
and  consistent  whole;  matter,  or  the  kenoma,  ^m2\\y  disappears; 
and  a transcendental  life,  flowing  with  equal  pulse  from  the  centre 
to  the  circumference,  or  back  again  from  the  circumference  to  the 
centre,  diffuses  an  unmixed  and  superabundant  joy. 

Such,  in  a general  way,  was  the  scheme  upon  which  the 
Gnostics  labored  ; each  particular  workman,  however,  fashion- 
The  it  according  to  his  own  fancy,  and  adorning  it 

Demiurge.  |-^jg  pomp  of  great  swelling  words.  In  all 

its  forms,  the  Demiurge  was  identified  with  the  God  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Whether  He  and  His  works  were  to  be  treated  as 
simply  evil,  or  impotently  vacillating  between  the  evil  and  the 
good,  would  be  determined  by  the  extent  to  which 

Dualism.  ® 1 

Eastern  dualism  was  admitted  into  the  system.  For 
on  the  dualistic  scheme  matter  was  not  a mere  void,  it  was  an 
active  principle  of  evil ; and  the  world,  in  the  same  way,  was 
not  a mere  prison-house,  but  the  battle-ground,  as  it  were,  be- 
tween the  two  rival  kingdoms  of  light  and  darkness. 

In  the  same  way,  while  all  Gnostics  agreed  to  despise  the 
body,  those  who  held  to  the  dualistic  belief  were  in  general  the 
Gnostic  most  camest ; and  took  part  in  the  fierce  struggle 
Morals.  between  the  two  kingdoms  by  rushing  into  the  extreme 
of  Oriental  asceticism.  The  Hellenic  Gnostics  were  more 
indulgent,  or  more  ingenious  ; and  left  the  flesh  to  destroy 
itself  by  following  its  own  will.  The  filthiness  into  which 
some  of  these  wretches  sank,  could  have  flowed  from  nothing 

7 This  gnosis  they  represented  as  a secret  tradition,  communicated  only  to 
the  initiated  few. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


151 


short  of  demoniacal  possession.  It  was  somewhat  inconsistent 
with  their  contempt  for  the  world  and  for  the  body,  that  they 
recognized  in  things  below  an  image  or  adumbration  of  the 
supersensuous  sphere ; so  that,  to  attain  any  knowledge  of  the 
world  of  truth,  one  has  to  go  up  along  the  path  of  sense  and 
sight.  On  this  principle,  both  nature  and  the  Scriptures  were 
allegorized,  but  in  a purely  arbitrary  manner. 

So  far  as  Gnosticism  was  consistent,  it  was  too  speculative 
and  spiritual  to  be  bound  by  creeds,  scriptures,  sacraments, 
or  anything  external.®  As  it  aimed  at  influence,  how-  Gnostic 
ever,  it  had  to  accommodate  itself  to  the  ‘^psychical  CuUus, 
element  in  man.  Hence  it  copied  more  or  less  of  the  ritual 
of  the  Church.  It  had  a water  baptism  for  the  psychical,^’  a 
baptism  of  the  Spirit  for  the  spiritual.”  The  Lord’s  Two 
Supper  was  rejected  by  some,  because,  says  S.  Igna- 
tius,  they  believed  not  in  the  flesh”  or  Incarnation  of  the 
Lord ; and  celebrated  with  much  pomp  and  with  blasphemous 
additions,  by  others.  In  fact,  while  a few  speculative  minds 
might  be  content  with  that  Gnosis,  which  they  regarded  as  the 
sum  of  all  worship,  others  more  eager  to  gain  proselytes  would 
resort  to  every  art  to  win  the  attention  and  the  favor  of  the 
sensuous  multitude.  Gnosis,  as  a philosophy,  there-  Gnosis  as  a 
fore,  is  to  be  distinguished  from  Gnosis  as  a religion, 

In  the  former  aspect,  it  was  a grand  but  futile  eflbrt  to  fuse 
fact  and  fable,  poetry  and  mythology,  philosophy  and  science, 
magic  and  religion,  into  one  consistent  whole,  which 
should  satisfy  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  intellectual 
wants  of  man,  and  solve  the  deep  questions  which  so  far  neither 
religion  nor  philosophy  had  been  able  to  answer.  This  was 
attempted  by  a process  of  intuition,  so  called,  which  was  in  fact 
nothing  more  than  guessing.  Whatever  praise,  therefore,  can 
be  accorded  to  fanciful  and  ingenious  guessing,  the  better  class 
of  Gnostics  more  or  less  deserve.  But  as  an  offset  to  this  merit, 
they  originated  nothing  in  morals,  religion,  philosophy,  science, 
or  literature,  that  has  stood  the  test  of  time;  they  constructed 
® For  the  Gnostic  cultus,  see  Neander’s  Church  History. 


Its  Merits, 


152 


History  of  the  Church. 

nothing  that  has  been  able  to  hold  together.^  If  it  be  admitted 
that  they  were  the  profoundest  and  most  brilliant,  it  must  be 
conceded  also  that  they  were  the  most  barren,  of  all  the  heretics 
of  antiquity. 

Arising,  as  they  did,  at  a time  when  the  intellect  of  the 
Church  was  just  awakening  to  a consciousness  of  its  strength — 
hijiuence  moving  moreover  iu  the  literary  sphere,  and  abound- 
negative.  assertions  and  brilliant  generalizations — 

they  bore  undoubtedly  a most  portentous  aspect  to  minds  of  an 
imaginative  and  philosophic  turn ; and  in  this  way  we  can 
account  for  the  attention  given  to  them  by  so  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  early  Christian  writers.  But  behind  all  this  there 
was  little  of  real  earnestness  or  power.  The  system,  on  the 
whole,  was  merely  an  expiring  effort  of  philosophic  and  poetic 
paganism,  exhibiting  the  brilliant  colors  of  the  dolphin  as  it 
dies.  It  was  the  morning  mist,  as  it  were,  the  fog  that  had 
settled  upon  the  world  during  the  long  night  of  heathen  dark- 
Morning  ness,  breaking  up  into  gorgeous  clouds  before  the  Sun 
Clouds,  Christianity,  reflecting  in  varied  hues  the  light 

before  which  it  fled,  and,  it  may  be  added,  carrying  off  along 
with  it  much  of  the  miasma  with  which  the  spiritual  atmosphere 
had  been  so  long  infected.  For  the  contest  with  Gnosticism  was 
Benefit  to  of  no  little  service  to  the  Church.  Christians  did  not 
the  Church,  Testament  less,  when  they  found  that 

Gnostics  abhorred  it.  Nor  did  the  continued  assaults  upon  the 
Incarnation,  or  the  Creed,  or  upon  the  authority  of  one  portion 
or  another  of  the  New  Testament,  render  them  less  zealous  in 
defence  of  those  sacred  trusts.  In  the  same  way,  Gnostic  aus- 
terities made  the  Church  look  more  sharply  to  the  grounds  of 

9 Dr.  Schaff,  while  he  seems  to  blame  the  Fathers  for  representing  it  as 
“ an  unintelligible  congeries  of  puerile  absurdities  and  impious  blasphemies,’* 
yet  grants  it  to  be  a system  in  which  ‘‘  monstrous  nonsense  and  the  most 
absurd  conceits  are  chaotically  mixed  up  with  profound  thoughts  and  poetical 
intuitions.”  The  Fathers  say  the  same;  only  they  ascribe  the  ‘‘profound 
thoughts  and  poetical  intuitions  ” to  the  old  philosophers  and  poets  from  whom 
they  were  borrowed,  and  give  the  Gnostics  credit  only  for  the  “ monstrous 
nonsense.”  See  Degerando,  H,  de  la  Phil,  xx.  xxi. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


153 


ascetic  tendencies  within  her  own  pale.  The  great  principle, 
in  short,  that  there  is  one  good  God  who  hath  made  all  things 
good,  so  that,  as  S.  Ignatius  expressed  it,  even  bodily  acts  are 
spiritual  if  done  in  the  Spirit,  was  more  deeply  stamped  into 
Christian  consciousness  from  the  fact  that  these  versatile  and 
pretentious  heretics  so  unanimously  denied  it. 

To  this  it  maybe  added,  that  their  claim  to  a peculiar 
or  science,  distinguished  from  simple  faith,  made  the  develop- 
ment of  Christian  theology  a matter  of  necessity.*®  Positive 
The  false  gnosis  could  be  refuted  effectually,  only  by 
confrondng  it  with  a genuine  gnosis.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Gnostics  corrupted  heathenism.  By  putting  metaphysical  abstrac- 
tions, such  ^smind,  word,  thought,wisdom,  power,  justice,  peace, 
in  the  place  of  the  old  nature-gods  of  the  theogonies,  they  per- 
verted good  poetry  into  a dry  and  unintelligible  jargon  \ and 
stripped  Polytheism  of  that  sensuous  beauty  which  was  its  prin- 
cipal attraction.  The  Neo-Platonic  school  fell  into  the  same 
mistake.  The  poetic  mythology  was  at  least  true  to  nature  : that 
is,  to  a fallen  and  corrupt  nature.  The  philosophic  mythologies 
of  Gnostics  and  Neo-Platonists  were  true  to  nothing.  In  help- 
ing, therefore,  to  expose  the  absurdities  of  the  older  systems, 
they  awakened  a critical  sense  by  which  their  own  absurdities 
were  exploded  with  the  rest. 

Of  particular  sects,  those  which  had  most  of  the  Greek 
element,  were  most  unreal,  and  on  the  whole  most  m. 

inclined  to  Antinomianism.  Simon  Magus,  Menander,  Sects. 

and  Cerinthus  have  been  mentioned  among  the  heretics  of  the 
first  century. 

In  the  second  century,  Carpocrates,  who  probably  taught  in 
Alexandria  about  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  Aiexan- 
made  his  aeon-system  a cloak  for  incredible  abom-  Gnostics. 
inations."  His  son  Epiphanes  died  young,  and  was  worshipped 

Neander,  History  of  Dogmas. 

Community  and  equality  ” (i.  e.,  community  of  goods,  of  wives,  of 
everything)  they  represented  to  be  ‘‘  the  true  divine  law,  human  laws  put 
asunder  what  God  hath  put  together.’*  Clemens  Alex.  StroJtiat.  iii. 

7* 


154 


History  of  the  Church. 

as  a god.  Of  the  same  sort  with  the  Carpocratians  were  the 
Antitactes,  Prodicians,  and  many  others. 

Basilides  and  Valentinus,  both  Alexandrians,  were  far  more 
intellectual,  and  framed  systems  remarkable  for  brilliant  but 
Basilides,  pcrversc  ingenuity.  “ There  is  a God  who  is  not^  and 
A.D.  125.  whom  nothing  can  be  said.  There  is  a world-seed^ 
a great  egg  as  it  were,  containing  within  it  the  germs  of  a spir- 
itual, psychical,  and  material  development.  From  this,  devel- 
oped according  to  numerical  proportions,  come  the  Ogdoad 
and  Hebdomad,  with  their  respective  Archons,  or  world-rulers, 
and  the  Abraxas,  or  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  Heavens : 
this  latter  representing  God,  so  far  as  He  is  manifested.  Christ 
is  the  nous  or  highest  aeon,  which  united  itself  to  the  man  Jesus 
at  His  baptism  ; in  memory  of  which  the  followers  of  Basilides 
celebrated  the  baptism  as  the  Epiphany  on  the  sixth  of  January. 
The  later  Basilideans  adopted  the  views  of  the-Docetae,  and  held 
it  lawful  to  deny  the  Name  of  Christ.  They  were  also  grossly  im- 
moral, and  were  much  addicted  to  magic,  attributing  a sovereign 
Valentinus,  cfiicacy  to  their  abraxas  gems.  Valentinus,  the  most 
A.D  125-140.  ij^gej^ious  of  all  the  Gnostics,  made  his  aeons  emanate  in 
pairs.  His  Christ  was  apparitional  or  docetic,  coming  into  the 
Marco-  world  through  Mary,  as  water  through  a pipe.  The 
Stans.  sects  that  sprang  from  these  leaders,  especially  the 

infamous  Marcosians,  were  a disgrace  to  humanity,  and  brought 
no  little  scandal  upon  the  Christian  name. 

The  Ophites,  or  Naassenes,  got  their  name  from  the  Ophis, 
ophites.  Serpent, — regarding  the  Serpent  that  tempted  Eve  as 
a symbol  of  Sophia,  Wisdom,  or  of  Christ  himself. Their 
Sethites,  peculiarities  gave  occasion  to  the  Heathen  to  accuse 
Catmtes.  Christians  of  serpent  worship.  A similar  blasphemy 
of  Scripture  was  found  among  the  Sethites,  Cainites,  and  others 

‘2  For  an  excellent  account  of  the  tenets  and  different  sects  of  the  Alexan- 
drian Gnostics,  see  “ Some  Account  of  the  Writings  and  Opinions  of  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  by  John  Bishop  of  Lincoln.” 

*3  Or,  according  to  others,  Sophia  was  the  defective  female  mind.  For 
interesting  remarks  on  these  sects,  see  Bunsen’s  Hippolytus,  vol.  i.  p.  35. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


155 


Saturninus. 


Bardesanes. 


of  the  same  sort.  The  world  and  its  order  being  evil,  every- 
thing that  helps  to  destroy  the  world  or  confound  its  order 
was  regarded  as  the  struggle  of  the  imprisoned  celestial  spark. 
Hence  even  the  Sodomites  and  Judas  Iscariot  were  by  some  held 
in  religious  honor. 

The  Syrian  or  Oriental  Gnostics  were  more  decidedly  dual- 
istic  in  their  views,  and  perhaps  more  hostile  to  the  G^Zsttc7 
Old  Testament. 

In  their  practice  they  were  rigidly  ascetic.  Saturninus  was 
the  name  best  known  among  them.  His  followers,  to  avoid  all 
contact  with  the  evil  principle  or  with  the  race  of  evil 
men,  abstained  from  marriage  and  the  eating  of  flesh. 

A particular  interest  attaches  to  the  name  of  Bardesanes  of 
Edessa,  once  a Christian  philosopher  and  an  able 
defender  of  the  Truth.  He  believed  in  two  eternal 
principles,  derived  evil  from  matter,  and  denied  the  Resurrec- 
tion. He  obtained  honor,  however,  as  a confessor ; and  many 
of  his  writings,  especially  his  elegant  treatise  on  Fate,  were 
highly  esteemed  in  the  Church. 

Cerdo,  a Syrian  who  came  to  Rome  early  in  the  century, 
seems  to  have  found  a starting-point  for  his  heresy  in  the  effort 
to  reconcile  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  The 
God  proclaimed  by  Moses  and  the  Prophets  could  not 
be  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  the  former  is  known,  but 
the  latter  unknown  ; the  former  is  just,  merely,  the  latter  is 

good. 

Marcion,  a native  of  Pontus,  came  to  Rome  during  the 
episcopate  of  Anicetus,  and  adopted  the  same  general  views 
with  Cerdo,  maturing  them,  however,  into  a more 
advanced  doctrine  and  discipline.  Besides  the  differ- 
ence between  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the  New,*^ 
he  found  it  impossible  to  reconcile  Christ  coming  to  Judgment, 
with  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels ; and  therefore  was  accused  of 
making  two  Christs.  As  converts  from  his  sect  were  rebaptized 

S.  Hippol.  Omn.  Hceres. 

*5  “ The  just  Creator,  and  the  good  God.” 


Cerdo. 


Marcion. 


156 


History  of  the  Church. 


Apelles, 


Hermogenes 


on  coming  into  the  Church,  it  is  probable  that  he  did  not  use 
the  common  form  of  Baptism.  He  rejected  the  New  Testa- 
ment, except  a corrupted  copy  of  the  Gospel  of  S.  Luke,  and 
certain  portions  of  the  Epistles.  It  is  said  that  towards  the  end 
of  his  life  he  repented  of  his  heresy. 

Apelles,  a disciple  of  Marcion,  taught  that  Christ  in  descend- 
ing from  on  high  framed  a body  to  Himself  out  of  the  four 
elements,  of  which  in  ascending  again  He  became 
divested.  This  he  learned  from  Philumena,  a virgin 
clairvoyante^  who  lived  on  invisible  food  and  had  many  revela- 
tions. About  the  end  of  the  century,  Hermogenes,  a 
painter  of  Carthage,  taught  the  eternity  of  matter : 
an  unplastic  material,  out  of  which  God  formed,  as  perfectly 
as  its  stubborn  nature  would  allow,  the  soul  and  body  of 
man.*^ 

Tatian,  a disciple  of  Justin  Martyr,  travelled  in  the  East 
after  the  death  of  his  master,  and  originated  the  stern  sect  of 
Tatian,  the  Tatianites.  He  regarded  marriage  as  a corruption, 
and  denied  the  possibility  of  Adam’s  salvation. 

To  these,  and  many  such  like,  Hippolytus  adds  the  name  of 
Monoimus,  an  Arabian,  who  taught  that  man  is  the 

Monoimus,  , 

all,”  and  ‘‘the  principle  of  all.”  His  maxim  was : 
“ Seek  not  God,  or  nature,  or  things  thereunto  pertaining;  but 
seek  thyself  from  thyself,  and  say : My  God  is  my  mind,  my 
thought,  my  soul,  my  body.  Thus  thou  shalt  find  thyself  in 
thyself,  as  the  one  and  the  whole.” 

It  was  in  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century  that  Gnostic 
dualism  was  moulded  into  its  severest  form  by  the  hand  of 
IV.  Mani,  an  apostate  Presbyter  it  is  said,  who  having 

Mani.  been  a Magian,  a Christian,  and  possibly  a Buddhist, 

endeavored  to  fuse  all  these  systems  into  one.  This  world  is  a 
The  two  battle-ground,  a confused  struggle  of  darkness  and 
Kingdoms,  debatable  land,  as  it  were,  of  two  great 

worlds,  each  having  its  own  Lord,  and  forever  arrayed  in  irre- 


*6  For  several  of  these,  see  Tertull.  De  Praescript,  30-33, 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


157 


concilable  hostility  to  one  another.  *7  Each  man  is  an  image 
of  that  world-wide  struggle.  In  a body  which  is  darkness  he 
has  a soul  which  is  darkness,  but  a soul  of  light,  also,  striving 
for  deliverance.  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Spirit  of  light 
and  the  Spirit  of  ether,  attract  the  good  soul  unto  themselves. 
These  notions,  adorned  with  poetical  ascriptions  to  the  sun  and 
moon  and  stars,  and  with  a world-system  of  the  most  intri- 
cate description,  were  accompanied  with  terribly  serious  views 
of  the  malignity  of  nature,  and  with  an  austerity  A ustere 

dark  and  hard,  though  not  devoid  of  a certain  moral  ^Natlr{. 

grandeur.  The  mouth,  the  hands,  the  heart,  every  member  and 
every  faculty,  must  be  sealed. By  silence  from  all 
but  good  words,  by  abstinence  from  all  but  vegetable 
diet,  by  hands  unstained  with  money,  by  a virginity  absolutely 
unsullied,  the  flesh  is  to  be  purged,  and  the  soul  of  light  lib- 
erated from  its  loathsome  dungeon.  To  make  these  maxims 
more  effectual,  the  Manicheans  had  a discipline  and  worship 
modelled  on  that  of  the  Church,  but  more  severe,  and  in  some 
respects  more  imposing. 

There  was  in  this  heresy,  as  in  all  that  have  been  built  upon 
an  honest  reception  of  the  dualistic  principle,  an  extra- 
ordinary vitality.  Soon  after  Manias  death,  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  third  century,  it  began  to  make  its  way  towards 


Senses 

Sealed. 


Vitality. 


*7  Zoroaster,  a contemporary  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  was  the  reformer  of  the 
Magian  system.  In  the  form  he  gave  it,  Ormuzd,  the  light-principle  and 
fountain-head  of  good,  and  Ahrinian,  the  source  of  darkness  and  of  evil, 
were  eternally  generated  by  the  infinite  and  almighty  Essence,  Zeruane^  Aku- 
rene,  or  absolute  Time.  On  the  subject  of  the  Barbarian  Philosophies,  see 
Diogenes  Laertius  among  the  Ancients,  and  Tenneman’s  Manual  of  the  His- 
tory of  Philosophy  (translated  by  Cousin)  among  modern  works  : also  Faber 
on  Pagan  Idolatry.  The  innumerable  points  which  Christianity  has  in  com- 
mon with  Anti-Christian  systems,  are  industriously  brought  together  in  a 
spirit  hostile  to  all  religion  by  Dunlap,  Vestiges  of  the  Spirit  History  of  Man. 

’'S  ‘‘  Signaculum  oris,  signaculum  manuum,  signaculum  sinus.”  With 
these  high  pretensions  they  mixed  secret  abominations,  almost  incredible. 
See  Augustin.  De  Hceres^  cap.  46. 

*9  Beausobre,  Histoire  du  Manicheisme  ; on  which  see  Mosheim’s  Criti- 
cisms, Hist.  Comment,  vol.  ii. 


158  History  of  the  Church. 

the  West ; and  by  its  ascetic  rigor,  its  high  pretensions,  and  its 
affectation  of  mystery,  made  converts  not  a few  in 

A.D.  287.  ^ 

Asia  Minor,  Italy,  Sicily  and  North  Africa.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  same  century  it  was  prominent  enough  to  provoke 
persecution,  at  the  hand  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian."®  Perse- 
cuted and  crushed  at  various  times,  it  always  managed  to  re- 
vive ; and  in  one  shape  or  another  continued  to  exist  all  through 
the  middle  ages. 

In  the  meanwhile  there  was  growing  within  the  bosom  of 
the  Church  a more  dangerous  enemy,  though  not  more  wicked, 

V.  than  either  the  Judaic  or  Gnostic  heresies.  These 
Sensuous  appealing  to  pseudo-spiritual  or  pseudo-rational 

proclivities,  had  assailed  the  real  Humanity  or  proper  Divinity 
of  our  Lord  ; so  that  the  success  of  either  would  have  involved 
no  less  than  a denial  of  the  essentials  of  Christian  faith.  The 
contest  with  them,  however,  was  during  the  second  century  an 
external  war.  The  internal  struggle,  during  the  same  period, 
was  with  enemies  that  appeared  on  the  sensuous  side  of  religion, 
and  appealed  to  the  imaginative  faith  and  emotional  feelings, 
rather  than  to  the  sober  reason  of  the  times. 

Symptoms  of  this,  it  has  been  already  noticed,  had  early 
appeared  among  the  Corinthian  Christians,  in  an  over-estimate 
of  charisms,  or  spiritual  gifts.  Coveting  sensible 

Sect  SJ>irit.  . . r \ 

signs  of  the  operation  of  the  Spirit,  and  despising  the 
commonplace  virtues  of  temperance,  charity,  and  humility,  they 
became  mere  babes  in  Christ ; and  sect-spirit,  or  schism,  one 
of  the  inevitable  fruits  of  a carnal  mind,""*  became — and  to  judge 
from  S.  Clement’s  Epistle  for  a long  time  continued — a charac- 
teristic of  their  Church. 

What  happened  among  the  Corinthians  must  have  shown 
itself  at  times  in  other  places.  Love  of  the  marvellous  is  nat- 

*0  Diocletian’s  edict  (Gies.  J 61,  n.  19)  seems  to  have  been  prompted  in 
great  measure  by  hatred  of  the  Persians,  whose  ‘‘  detestable  customs,”  he 
feared,  might  ‘‘  corrupt  the  innocency  and  simplicity  of  Roman  manners.” 
The  ringleaders  of  the  heresy  were  to  be  “ cast  into  the  flames  and  burned, 
along  with  their  abominable  writings.”  **  Gal.  v.  19,  20. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


159 

ural  to  man.  But  the  extraordinary  effusion  of  gifts’’  in  the 
Pentecostal  age,  however  necessary  it  was  for  a time,  Love  of 
could  not  but  be  attended  with  the  risk  of  ministering 
to  this  dangerous  passion  ; giving  occasion  to  disorders,  which 
the  rulers  of  the  Church  had  to  combat  with  all  their  might. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  the  same  carnal  or 
psychical  tendency  appears  under  another  form.  As  miracles 
became  less  frequent,  and  ‘^gifts’’  almost  disap-  chUiast 
peared,  prophecy  grew  more  precious  to  those  who 
sought  either  to  stimulate  or  to  build  up  their  faith  ; and  the 
magnificent  imagery  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  so  elevat- 
ing and  inspiring  to  sober  minds,  was  converted  by  the  un- 
learned and  unstable  into  a sensuous  snare.  The  Millenarian 
theory,  a harmless  and  pleasing  speculation  to  some,  became  to 
others  a sort  of  intoxication.  In  its  milder  form  it  Millennial 
was  an  opinion,  founded  on  a literal  interpretation  of  Reign. 
the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  that  the  saints  risen 
from  the  dead  at  the  first  resurrection  should  reign  with  Christ 
a thousand  years  on  earthy  in  a state  of  temporal  power  and 
felicity.  Papias,  a disciple  of  S.  John  and  a great  collector  of 
oral  traditions,  but  a man  of  slender  wit  according  to  Eusebius, 
embellished  this  opinion  with  fanciful  additions  of  a very  excep- 
tionable kind.  The  wicked  were  to  serve  the  righteous  during 
the  thousand  years  of  their  reign.  To  support  its  enormous 
population,  the  earth  was  to  be  endowed  with  a marvellous 
fecundity.  Each  vine  was  to  bear  a thousand  branches,  each 
branch  a thousand  clusters,  each  cluster  a thousand  bunches  of 
grapes,  and  each  grape  was  to  yield  twenty-five  measures  of 
wine.“  Pomps  and  splendors  and  luxuries  were  to  abound  in 

“ See  Routh,  Reliqu.  Sacr.  vol.  i.  The  doctrine  was  held,  but  probably 
in  a more  spiritual  sense  than  here  described,  by  Irenaeus,  Justin  Martyr, 
Melito,  and  probably  by  a majority  of  the  Church  teachers  of  the  second 
century.  The  Alexandrine  School,  which  in  the  third  century  brought  it  into 
disrepute,  were  averse  to  its  sensuous  character  (which  they  probably  exag- 
gerated), but  spiritualized  the  text  of  Scripture  into  a very  intangible  meaning. 
The  millennium  was  advocated  by  Justin  M.,  and  probably  by  others,  from 
a desire  to  bring  out  clearly  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection,  in  opposition  to 


1 6o  History  of  the  Church. 

similar  proportions.  Jerusalem  was  to  be  rebuilt.  Indeed, 
the  vision  of  the  sacred  city,  radiant  with  every  im- 
jerusaiem,  splciidor,  SO  impressed  itself  upon  popular 

imagination,  that,  as  some  believed,  it  was  actually  seen  for  a 
space  of  forty  days'*^  hovering  in  the  air  just  over  its  future  site. 

But  the  Millenarian  dream,  tolerated  for  awhile  among 
Catholics,  and  spreading  in  grosser  forms  among  the  heretical 
Religious  sects,  was  only  one  of  innumerable  symptoms  of  a 
Fiction,  great  and  growing  disorder.  A worse  sign  still  was 
the  flood  of  religious  fictions  let  loose  upon  the  Church  at  this 
period.  Many  of  these  productions  were  harmless  enough, 
some  were  even  edifying.  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  for  ex- 
ample, notwithstanding  some  questionable  phrases,  is  evidently 
the  work  of  a pious  man,  who  avails  himself  of  the  garb  of 
fiction  without  any  intention  to  deceive. We  can  hardly  say 
as  much  for  the  Sibylline  Books  a forgery  which  Justin  Martyr 
and  early  writers  generally  appealed  to,  without  suspicion  or 
misgiving.  The  Clementines,  a romance  already  mentioned  in 
this  chapter,  came  out  of  a great  nest  of  similar  productions. 
Thousands  of  pious  frauds,  in  short.  Prophecies,  Histories, 
Si>urious  Epistles,  Gospels,  Apocalypses,  Testaments,  mostly  of 
u ritings.  origin,^  but  ascribed  to  Adam,  Seth,  Abra- 

ham, Moses,  the  Apostles,  the  blessed  Virgin,  and  to  various 

those  ‘‘  not  really  Christians,”  who  taught  that  **  at  the  moment  of  death  the 
soul  would  be  taken  right  up  into  heaven.”  He  therefore  contended,  that 
“ not  only  would  there  be  a resurrection  of  the  dead,  but  a millennium  in 
Jerusalem  ...  as  all  the  prophets  have  predicted.”  Dial,  cum  Tryphon,  8o. 
It  has  been  well  remarked,  that  as  belief  in  the  millennium  declined,  the 
notion  of  2, purgatoiy  took  its  place.  See  note  on  this  subject  to  Oxf.  Trans, 
of  Tertullian,  p.  120. 

23  Tertull.  Adv.  Mar  cion.  hi.  25. 

=^4  This  work,  and  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  are  placed  on  very  good 
authority  in  the  first  century : the  argument  against  their  early  origin  being  of 
no  great  force.  See  Gieseler,  Church  Hist.  § 35  (Smith’s  Am.  ed.).  See 
also  Lee,  on  Inspiration  ; and  Wake’s  Apostol.  Fathers. 

Sibyllina  Oraculay  etc.,  Servatii  Galloei,  etc.,  etc.  Amstelodami,  1689. 

^ Epiphanius  mentions  as  many  as  six  thousand,  of  Gnostic  authorship. 
Irenaeus  speaks  of  them  as  countless. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


i6i 


other  worthies,  Jewish,  Christian,  and  Heathen,  circulated 
through  innumerable  obscure  channels,  and  ministered  to  the 
fleshly  enthusiasm  from  which  they  sprang. 

To  perils  of  this  kind  must  be  added  a growing  fondness  for 
the  ascetic  or  encratite"^  virtues.  Virginity  could  not  long  be 
content  with  the  qualified  praise  bestowed  upon  it  by  TkeEn- 
S.  Paul.  Second  marriages  were  allowed  to  human  cratites, 
infirmity,  but,  in  an  age  that  called  for  extraordinary  and  heroic 
virtues,  infirmity  was  not  apt  to  be  regarded  with  particular 
favor.  The  martyr  spirit""^  was  immoderately  applauded  : on  the 
other  hand,  denial  of  the  faith  at  the  hour  of  trial,  and  even 
attempts  at  evasion,  were  likely  to  be  considered  by  many  unpar- 
donable sins.  Excesses  in  this  direction  did  not  go.  Excesses 
however,  entirely  unrebuked.  The  martyrs  at  Lyons, 
as  we  have  seen,  and  it  may  be  said  the  School  of  S.  John  in 
general,  were  distinguished  by  a noble  moderation  ; by  encraty, 
or  temperance,  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word."^  But  as  perse- 
cution became  more  virulent,  enthusiasm  more  lively,  and  espe- 
cially as  the  philosopher’s  cloak,  the  badge  of  a proud  austerity, 

27  The  name  Encratites  (from  encrateia,  continence,  temperance)  covers 
a great  many  sects ; and  may  properly  be  used  as  a generic  term. 

28  Or  rather  the  act  of  martyrdom ; for  it  was  a symptom  of  the  sensuous 
tendency,  that  the  word  martyr,  which  applies  to  all  who  bear  a true  Christian 
witness  before  men,  came  to  be  restricted  to  a small  and  not  in  all  cases  exem- 
plary class, 

29  Among  the  fragments  attributed  to  S.  Ignatius,  we  find  the  following : 
Virginitatis,  jugum  nemini  impone.  Periculosa  quippe  res  est,  et  servatu  diffi- 
cilis,  quando  necessitate  fit.  Junioribus  ante  nubere  permitte,  quam  cum 
scortis  corrumpantur.  But  the  general  sound  feeling  of  the  Church  is  best 
shown  in  the  50th  Apostolic  Canon : “ If  a bishop,  a priest,  or  a deacon,  or 
any  ecclesiastic  abstain  from  marriage,  from  flesh,  or  from  wine,  not  for  prac- 
tice in  selfrdenial,  but  from  contempt,  forgetting  that  God  made  everything 
very  good,  that  He  made  both  the  male  and  the  female — in  fact,  even  blas- 
pheming the  creation  : he  shall  either  retract  his  error,  or  be  deposed  and  cast 
out  of  the  Church.  A layman  also  shall  be  treated  in  like  manner.’^  In  the 
same  way,  clerical  ascetics  were  compelled  to  eat  flesh  and  drink  wine  once, 
that  their  abstinence  on  other  occasions  might  not  be  attributed  to  a belief  that 
these  things  were  evil  in  themselves.  Ancyra,  Can.  14. 


1 62  History  of  the  Church. 


Tatianites. 


Puritani, 


was  more  and  more  seen  in  the  Church,  the  line  between  proper 
self-discipline  and  intolerant  severity  was  soon  obliterated,  or  at 
least  disregarded. 

Tatian,  a converted  Philosopher,  and  for  some  time  an  asso- 
ciate of  Justin  Martyr  at  Rome,  was  content  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  latter  to  indulge  a certain  severity  to  himself, 
without  making  his  own  practice  a rule  of  obligation 
for  others.  Afterwards  he  travelled  in  the  East  and  fell  into 
Gnostic  errors.  The  sects  that  adopted  or  developed  his  notions 
(Tatianites,  Severians,  from  names  of  their  leaders ; or,  Encra- 
tites,  Puritans,  from  their  professions  of  continence, 
temperance,  and  pure  religion)  spread  through  all  parts 
of  the  East  and  West.  They  condemned  matrimony,  abstained 
entirely  from  flesh  and  wine,  and  some  of  them  (Hydroparastatse, 
Aquarii  or  Aquarians)  forbade  the  use  of  the  latter,  even  in  the 
andothers.  Ey^harist.  The  Apotactites,  renouncers  of  the  good 
things  of  this  world,  Apostolics,  imitators  of  primitive  poverty, 
Saccophori,  scrip-bearers,  are  still  later  varieties  of  the  same 
sensuous  spirit, 3°  disguised  under  a thin  veil  of  ostentatious  sim- 
plicity or  severity  of  manners. 

Among  the  idolatrous  nations  of  antiquity,  the  Phrygians 
were  distinguished  for  those  ungovernable  transports  of  sensuous 

VI.  enthusiasm  which  S.  Paul  justly  lays  to  the  charge  of 
Montanus.  heathenism  in  general.  ‘‘Ye  knpw,**  says  he  to  the 
Corinthians,  “that  ye  were  Gentiles,  carried  away  unto  these 
dumb  idols,  even  as  ye  were  led.**  This  “ carrying  away  **  was 
Phrygian  known  Under  the  name  of  ecstasy.  It  could  be  brought 
Ecstasy.  ^^out  by  loud  sliouts,  piercing  cries,  and  even  by  the 
clang  of  instrumental  music. 3"  In  addition  to  these,  however, 


30  The  theoretic  notions  of  some  of  these  sects  were  less  popular  than 
their  austere  manners.  Thus  dualism  was  prevalent  among  them ; the  doc- 
trine of  Satan’s  independent  power ; and  (most  offensive  of  all  to  the  common 
Christian  feeling)  a belief  that  Adam  was  hopelessly  damned. 

31 « Tympana  tenta  tonant  palmis  et  cymbala  circum 
Concava,  raucisonoque  minantur  cornua  cantu, 

Et  Phrygio  stimulat  numero  cava  tibia  mentes;”  etc. 

Lucretii,  De  R.  N ii.  620. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


163 


arts  were  employed  not  unlike  the  “mesmerism”  and  “spirit- 
ualism'*  of  modern  times.  Accordingly,  at  certain  seasons,  the 
Phrygian  population,  male  and  female,  especially  the  latter, 
excited  themselves  into  fits  of  Corybantic  frenzy,  under  corybantic 
the  influence  of  which  they  exhibited  those  psychical 
phenomena  which,  wherever  doctrine  and  discipline  are  sub- 
ordinated to  passion,  are  still  familiar  to  the  experience  of  the 
religious  world. 

When  the  Phrygians  were  converted  to  Christianity,  this 
sensuous  spirit  seems  to  have  departed  for  a season.  The  Gospel 
gave  food  for  the  mind,  as  well  as  a stimulus  to  the  Phrygian 
affections.^^"  It  transformed  the  wild  irregularity  of 
religious  impulse  into  the  decency  and  order  of  religious  life. 
Society  was  not  only  cleansed : it  was  clothed,  as  it  were,  and 
restored  to  its  right  mind. 

But  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  symptoms  of 
the  old  malady  began  to  reappear.  It  was  a time  undoubtedly 
of  general  excitability.  Miraculous  powers  still  lin- 
gered in  the  Church,  or  were  still  fondly  cherished  in 
popular  imagination.  There  was  a presentiment  of  the 
end  of  the  world  near  at  hand.  Wild  dreams  of  millennial 
glories  were  fondly  listened  to,  and  generally  encouraged. 
Under  these  circumstances,  a little  flock  of  simple  Christians 
gathered  for  devotional  exercises  in  some  retired  spot — in  a 
cemetery,  perhaps,  or  around  the  tomb  of  an  honored  martyr — 
and  engaged,  it  may  have  been,  ih  fasting  or  in  watching,  is 
suddenly  startled  from  its  sobriety  by  one  of  its  members  falling 
into  a trance.  The  ‘‘ecstasy**  is  accompanied  with  wild  bab-^ 

32  The  Westminster  Review  (No.  cxliii.),  in  a very  narrow-minded  article 
on  Christian  Revivals,  accuses  the  whole  early  Church  of  fostering  these  ex- 
citements. It  forgets  that  Truth  was  always  put  foremost  by  Church  teachers 
as  the  sanctifying  power  ; and  that  Truth  was  proclaimed,  not  in  a popular, 
hortatory  way,  but  in  a sober,  argumentative  style,  which  appeals  to  the  under- 
standing even  more  than  to  the  affections.  To  test  the  question,  let  any  one 
try  to  get  up  a revival  (in  the  reviewer’s  sense  of  the  word)  by  reading  to 
people  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  or  any  of  the  homi- 
lies of  the  early  Fathers. 


The  Old 
Evil 
returns. 


164 


History  of  the  Church. 


blings  and  rapturous  demonstrations.  The  subject  of  it,  while 
in  the  trance  or  on  awaking,  has  a dream  to  tell,  a wonderful 
and  transporting  vision.  The  thing  soon  becomes  a decided 
epidemic. 33  It  speeds  from  man  to  man,  from  congregation  to^ 
Epidemic  congregation.  The  Clergy  at  first  can  make  little  of 
Frenzy.  Afterwards,  as  they  perceive  the  danger,  they  strive 

to  check  the  contagion,  to  dispel  the  delusion.  But  their  efforts 
are  all  in  vain.  Enthusiasm  degenerates  so  easily  into  self-decep- 
tion, and  self-deception  is  so  rapidly  corrupted  into  a half- 
unconscious effort  to  draw  in  others,  that  to  unveil  a lying 
wonder  is  often  the  surest  way  for  a time  to  increase  the  infatu- 
ation of  the  multitude  who  have  been  deluded  by  it. 

Montanus,  a convert  from  heathenism,  and  once,  it  is  said, 
a Priest  of  Cybele,  is  commonly  cited  by  the  ancients  as  the 
Montanus.  author  of  the  Phrygian  frenzy ; bringing  it  about  in 
Maximiiia.  connection  with  two  prophetesses,  Maximilla  and  Pris- 
Prisciiia,  cilia,  by  artful  devices  of  his  own.  It  is  far  more 
probable  that  he  was  originally  a victim  of  it.  Sharing  in  the 
common  delusion,  he  had  the  tact  and  intellectual  skill  to 
become  its  interpreter  and  director. 

The  Church,  he  reasoned,  in  growing  older,  ought  to  grow 
wiser  and  more  sober.  Patriarchal  times  had  been  the  infancy 
Theory  of  Religion,  Judaism  the  childhood,  Pentecost  the 
Develop-  glowing  and  exuberant  youth.  Each  of  these  periods 
had  been  inaugurated  by  signs ; each  had  been  followed 
by  a development  of  doctrine,  and  by  a tightening  of  the  bands 
of  discipline  and  morals.  Now,  a new  and  more  spiritual  era 
. The  End  is  manifestly  approaching.  The  world  is  nodding  to 
its  fall.  The  powers  of  evil  are  rallying  their  forces 
for  the  great  and  decisive  battle.  The  Holy  Ghost,  the  Para- 
clete promised  to  the  Apostles,  who  has  partially  manifested 
Himself  in  the  wonders  of  Pentecostal  times,  is  coming  upon 
the  Church  with  a mightier  demonstration  of  spiritual  power. 

33  The  resemblance  of  this  ecstasy  to  mesmeric  phenomena  is  pointed  out 
by  Gieseler,  in  Tertullian,  De  Anima,  9.  See  also  Miinteri,  Priniord.  Ecc/es, 
Afric,  cap.  xxii. 


Heresies  and  Schools.  165 

Youth  is  settling  into  manhood.  With  new  wonders,  then,  new 
revelations,  new  knowledge,  there  must  be  a new  gird-  ^ 

ing  up  of  the  loins  of  the  Church  mind;  a stricter  strictness 

needed. 

discipline,  a more  perfect  organization,  a more  com- 
plete subjection  of  the  flesh  to  the  inspiring  and  energizing 
Spirit.3^ 

Hence  an  adoption  at  once  of  all  the  encratite  notions  cur- 
rent at  that  day.  Second  marriages,  and  even  all  marriages  not 
solemnized  in  Church,  were  regarded  as  adultery. 

. • 11  /*  1 • 1 Encratite 

Absolution,  especially  for  mortal  sms,  was  to  be  at  Notions 
least  grudgingly  accorded.  To  avoid  persecution  was 
to  fall  from  the  faith.  For  one  Lent  they  had  three,  besides  other 
fasts,  half  fasts,  and  seasons  of  dry  food  only.^s  Some  abstained 
altogether  from  flesh  and  wine.  All  professed  to  go  far  beyond 
the  practice  of  the  Church,  in  sobriety  of  dress  and  of  manner, 
in  condemning  amusements,  in  cultivating  a rigid  and  marked 
austerity  in  all  the  relations  of  daily  life. 

In  the  same  way  the  Millenarian  theory,  and  other  notions 
of  a stimulating  kind,  clustered  around  Montanism  by  a natural 
and  irresistible  affinity.  Pepuza,  a town  of  Phrygia,  where 

34  The  views  of  Montanus  come  to  us  through  the  medium  of  Tertullian’s 
vigorous  mind;  who  in  his  tract,  De  Virgin.  Veland.  i,  brings  out  finely  the 
notion  of  development  as  opposed  to  custom  or  prescription. 

35  See  Natalis  Alexander,  tom.  Dissertat.  iv. ; Kaye’s  Tertullian ; 
Bingham’s  Antiquities ; Beveridge,  Can.  Cod.  lib.  3,  De  Jejun.  Quadrages. 
It  is  probable  from  Tertull.  De  Jejun.  ii.,  De  Or  at.  xiv.,  and  from  Irenseus 
Ap.Euseb.  V.  24,  that  the  only  fast  generally  obligatory  (except  before  baptism 
or  ordination)  was  on  Good  Friday,  Easter  Eve,  or  [Constitut.  Apostol.  v.  14) 
the  whole  of  Passion-week.  The  forty  days  of  Lent  were  observed,  however, 
with  more  or  less  of  strictness : as  also  the  station-days  (Wednesday  and  Fri- 
day) of  each  week,  when  abstinence  was  practised  till  three  o’clock.  Among 
the  Catholics,  however,  these  observances  were  **  of  choice  not  of  command,” 
which  gave  Tertullian  occasion,  in  his  shajp  way,  to  twit  the  Catholics  with 
inconsistency,  viz.,  that  they  observed  more  than  they  were  willing  to  enjoin. 
De  Jejun.  ii.  The  arguments,  by  the  way,  which  he  puts  in  the  mouths  of 
Catholics  against  the  stricter  views  of  the  Montanists,  are  precisely  those 
which  are  employed  in  modern  times  against  the  excessive  legality  of  Roman 
Catholic  fasts. 


1 66  History  of  the  Church. 

Maximilla  began  her  prophetic  career,  was  venerated  as  the  site 
chTast  Heavenly  Jerusalem.  The  prophets  kept  excite- 

ment  at  fever  heat  by  predictions  of  wars,  persecu- 
tions, and  of  a great  and  final  judgment  immediately 
impending ; predictions  which  signally  failed  in  this  instance, 
but  which  none  the  less  served  their  purpose  for  a time. 

As  the  Clergy  quite  unanimously  rejected  the  new  doctrine, 
it  was  necessary  for  Montanus  to  organize  a ministry  of  his 
Ministry  own.^^  This  he  did  consistently  with  his  principle 
Prophetic.  Catholic  Church,  namely,  was  psychical  and 

carnaly  and  therefore  imperfect)  by  ordaining  Patriarchs  and 
Cenones  over  the  heads  of  the  Bishops ; thus  degrading  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  Apostles,  says  S.  Jerome,  to  the  third  rank  in  the 
Females  Ministry.  As  his  ministry  stood  on  the  prophetic  rather 
admitted.  sacerdolal  basis,  he  could  also  consistently  with 

his  principles  admit  women  to  it ; prophetesses^^  being  known 
in  all  the  early  ages. 

■ The  assertion  that  Montanus  believed  himself  to  be  the 
Paraclete,  probably  arose  from  the  distinction  commonly  made 
between  the  Phrygian  inspiration,  so  called,  and  the 
stasy  un~  inspiration  attributed  by  the  Church  to  Prophets  and 

conscious.  - , ^ , , . , 

Apostles.  In  the  latter,  neither  reason,  will,  nor  any- 
thing pertaining  to  man’s  integrity,  is  abolished  or  superseded. 
But  Montanus  professed  to  be  an  unconscious  organ  of  the 


3^  The  Montanists  also  fell  back  upon  the  inherent  kingly  priesthood  of 
the  private  Christian.  Tertull.  De  Exhortat.  Castitat.  yii.i  in  which  he  argues 
that,  as  laymen  partake  of  the  priestly  office  and  do  priestly  acts  (et  offers,  et 
tinguis,  et  sacerdos  es  tibi  solus),  they  ought  also  to  come  under  the  strict  dis- 
cipline of  priestly  lives.  It  may  be  observed  that  this  priestly  character  of  the 
congregation  enters  into  all  true  Liturgies ; but  was  more  apparent  in  the  early 
Church,  because  the  offerings  (first  fruits,  etc.)  were  more  tangible : the  dis- 
tinction between  the  old  Law  and»the  new,  in  this  respect,  being,  according  to 
Irenaeus,  iv.  i8,  2,  that  what  was  then  done  in  a servile  way,  is  now  done 
freely:  quippc  cum  jam  non  a servis,  sed  a liberis  offeratur.  See  Gieseler^ 

\ S3,  notes  5,  16. 

37  Thiersch,  the  Irvingite  historian,  distinguishes  in  like  manner  between 
teaching  and  prophesying — the  one  being  prohibited  to  women,  the  other  not. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


167 

spirit. The  Spirit,  throwing  him  into  an  ecstasy,  into  an  irra- 
tional, impersonal,  irresponsible  condition,  breathed  through 
him  as  a musician  through  a flute ; so  that  the  phrase,  thus  saith 
the  Prophet,  would  be  no  more  proper  in  his  case  than  to  say, 
thus  says  the  mouth,  or  thus  writes  the  pen,  or  thus  plays  the 
harp. 

Other  absurdities  and  blasphemies  attributed  to  Montanus, 
are  so  manifestly  taken  from  vague  rumor,  or  from  hostile  inter- 
pretation, that  little  credit  can  be  given  them  at  the 
present  day.  It  seems  improbable  also,  that  he  was  ^ Mon^ 
such  a simpleton  as  is  sometimes  represented.  Re- 
spectable powers  of  mind,  great  austerity  of  life,  and  even  prac- 
tical good  sense  within  a certain  range,  may  coexist  with  absurd- 
ities bordering  on  insanity ; and  the  consistency  of  Montanism 
in  itself,  as  well  as  the  strong  and  broad  hold  it  gained  in  large 
portions  of  the  world,  seem  to  bear  witness  to  the  intellectual 
ability,  and  in  the  popular  sense  of  the  word,  to  the  sincerity 
of  its  author. 

At  all  events,  Montanism  became  the  popular  heresy  of  the 
day.  Its  encratic  principles  recommended  it  to  some;  its  fervid 
enthusiasm  carried  away  others.  Phrygia  and  Galatia  ^ ^ 
were  overrun  by  it.  The  light  of  the  golden  candle-  the  New 
stick  of  Thyatira  was  extinguished  by  it  for  nearly  a 
century.  From  the  East  it  flew  swiftly  to  the  West;  and  in 
Rome  one  of  the  Bishops,  towards  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury, most  probably  Victor,  was  disposed  for  awhile  to 
look  favorably  upon  it,  and  indeed  sent  letters  of  peace  to  the 
new  prophets.  In  North  Africa  it  took  deeper  root.  Wherever 
it  spread,  its  followers,  calling  themselves  ‘‘spiritual,^’  and  de- 
spising the  Catholics  as  ‘^carnal, or  abhorring  them  as  enemies 
of  the  Spirit,  were  distinguished  by  a severity  and  simplicity  of 
life  which  disposed  many  earnest  men  to  look  favorably  upon 
them. 


in  the  JVest, 


38  The  difference  between  the  orthodox  and  the  Montanist  Idea  of  inspi- 
ration is  well  treated  in  Lee,  on  the  Inspiration  of  H.  S.  lect.  v. ; see  also 
Kaye’s  Justin  M.  chap.  ix. 


« 


1 68  History  of  the  Church. 


Monarct 

ians. 


So  mighty  a movement  in  the  sensuous  direction  as  that 
of  the  Montanist,  Encratite,  and  even  Gnostic  sects  (for  the 
VII.  Gnostics  became  sensuous  as  soon  as  they  formed  into 
sects),  could  not  fail  to  arouse  the  elements  of  a pow- 
Reaction,  reaction.  Among  the  Montanists  themselves, 

there  arose  a party  holding  views  which  were  afterwards  known 
in  the  Church  as  Sabellian.^^  These,  however,  were  probably 
men  ignorant  of  theology,  who,  absorbed  in  their  doctrine  of 
the  Paraclete,  confounded  with  Him  the  other  Persons  of  the 
Trinity. 

The  Alogi,  deniers  of  the  Logos  of  S.  John’s  Gospel,  were 
inclined  to  doubt  the  reality  of  spiritual  gifts,  and  to  reject  the 
TheAio  i Gospel  of  S.  John.-*®  In  fact,  the  doc- 

'h-  trine  of  the  millennium,  the  mission  of  the  Spirit,  and 
the  mystery  of  a manifold  Divine  operation  in  the  hu- 
man heart,  had  been  so  vilified  by  the  sensuous  trail  of  heretical 
interpretation,  that  impatient  minds  were  naturally  disgusted. 
A skeptical  spirit  had  also  been  provoked  by  over  sharp  distinc- 
tions between  the  Persons  of  the  Trinity.  The  doctrine  of 
Subordination  was  so  maintained  by  some,  as  to  give  a handle 
for  the  charge  of  Tritheism.  To  avoid  errors  on  this 
side,  many  were  led  to  contend  for  the  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  Monarchy^  either  by  denying  the  Divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  or  by  making  Him  a mere  temporary  embodiment  or 
manifestation  of  the  Father.  Among  those  who  carried  this 
reaction  to  the  extreme,  Theodotus  the  Tanner,  Theodotus  the 
Money-changer,  and  Artemas  or  Artemon,  were  particularly 
prominent.  They  rejected  the  Divinity  of  Christ.  From  a 
notion  of  one  of  them,^'  that  Christ  was  inferior  in  the  priest- 
hood to  that  mysterious  personage,  Melchizedek,  his  followers 
got  the  name  of  Melchizedekians. 


Tritheism. 


39  Tertullian,  De  Prcescript.  Hceret.  52,  mentions  two  sects  of  Montanists, 
those  who  followed  Proculus,  and  those  who  followed  ^schines ; the  latter 
maintained  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  are  one  Person. 

40  S.  Irenseus,  iii.  ii,  cited  in  Gies.  § 48. 

4*  Tertullian,  De  Prcescript.  Hceres.  53. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


169 


Praxeas,  coming  to  Rome  from  the  East,  at  the  time  when 
Victor  was  favoring  the  new  Prophets,  by  his  arguments  and 
representations  undeceived  the  Roman  Pontiff;  but 
afterwards  reasoned  himself  into  a heresy  more  ruinous  Patripas- 
and  hardly  more  rational  than  the  one  he  had  exposed/"* 

In  explaining  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  possibly  with  a view 
to  cut  away  the  ground  from  under  the  Montanist  delusion,  he 
laid  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  Patripassianism  ; contending 
that  He  who  suffered  on  the  cross  was  not  in  substance  only, 
but  in  person,  one  with  the  Father. 

In  this  way  the  philosophizing  spirit  came  back  into  the 
Church,  where  it  secured  a foothold,  from  which  it  was  not  dis- 
lodged for  several  ages/^  Indeed,  it  has  never  been  Rationalist 
dislodged : for  the  habit  of  explaining  the  mysteries  'temper. 
of  the  Gospel  having  once  come  in  on  the  side  of  error,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  employ  it  on  the  side  of  Truth. 

^ ^ . 1 1 1 • 1 Rome. 

The  Church  of  Rome  was  particularly  troubled  in  this 
way.  Noetus,  who  taught  in  Asia  Minor  about  the  end  of  the 
second  century,  held  the  same  view  as  Praxeas  in  a more  philo- 
sophic shape ; and  Epigonus  and  Cleomenes,  his  disciples, 
preaching  in  the  imperial  city,  were  more  or  less  favored  by 
Zephyrinus  and  Callistus.  How  far  these  Roman  Bishops  were 
implicated  in  the  heresy,  it  is  hard  so  say.  With  the  Artemon- 
ites  on  one  side  denying  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  with  the 
Patripassians  on  the  other  exalting  His  divinity  at  the  expense 
of  His  personality,  they  were  certainly  in  a difficult  position. 
It  is  to  their  credit  that  Theodotus  and  Artemon  were  promptly 
condemned. 

The  same  promptitude  was  shown  in  the  case  of  Sabellius, 

42  Praxeas,  in  Rome,  accomplished  two  works  of  the  devil : he  cast  out 
prophecy  and  brought  in  heresy;  he  banished  the  Paraclete  and  crucified  the 
Father.’^  Tertullian,  Adv.  Praxeatn.  c.  i.  Tertullian  intimates  that  Victor 
was  silent  with  regard  to  the  heresy  of  Praxeas. 

43  An  anonymous  writer  in  Euseb.  v.  28,  dwells  much  on  the  fondness  of 
these  heretics  for  syllogisms,  and  for  Aristotle,  Theophrastus,  and  Galen.  They 
were  much  addicted  also  to  mathematical  studies. 

8 


1 70  History  of  the  Church. 

who  flourished  also  in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century,  and 
expounded  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  a way  which 

Sabellius,  ^ 1 ^ ^ 

has  proved  as  difficult  to  explain  as  the  original  doc- 
trine itself.  The  sum  of  his  teaching  would  seem  to  be  this  : 
Monad  ts  a Mouady  expanded  into  a triad,^  As  man  is 

and  Triad,  distinguish  in  him  the  body  (that  is,  the 

whole  frame  corporeal  and  spiritual),  and  the  soul  (which  again 
stands  for  the  whole  man),  and  the  spirit  (of  which  the  same  is 
to  be  said)  ; or  as  the  sun  is  one,  yet  we  distinguish  the  round 
body  and  the  light  and  the  heat : so  God  is  one,  yet  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Spirit  may  each  express  in  His  own  way  the 
fulness  of  the  expanded  or  contracted  Godhead.  Like  all  anal- 
ogies of  the  kind,  this  is  capable  of  being  interpreted  in  many 
different  senses.  It  may  stand  for  a Trinity  of  modes, ^ Trinity 
of  emanations,  a Trinity  of  three  divine  energies.'*^  If  rigidly 
pressed,  it  would  certainly  lead  to  a denial  of  the  proper  person- 
ality of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  this  last  conse- 
quence Sabellius  seems  to  have  accepted.  He  admitted  prosopa^ 
persons,  but  only  in  the  dramatic  sense ; characters,  to  be  put 
on  or  put  off,  for  particular  dispensations.  In  the  effort  to  give 
a rational  account  of  his  doctrine  on  the  positive  side,  he  doubt- 
less encountered  difficulties,  which  it  was  easier  to  evade  by  illus- 
trations than  to  meet  and  vanquish  by  intelligible  definitions. 

Somewhat  later  than  Sabellius,  Beryllus,  Bishop  of  Bostra  in 
Arabia,  taught  that  Christ  before  the  Incarnation  had  no  per- 
sonal existence, and  that  He  has  no  proper  divinity 
of  His  own,  but  only  that  of  the  Father  dwelling  in 
Him.  He  denied  also  the  existence  of  a human  soul  in  Christ, 
the  indwelling  Deity  supplying  its  place.  When  con- 
futed by  Origen  on  this  latter  point,  in  an  Arabian 
Synod  holden  near  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  he  also 
abandoned  the  former  error. 

44  S.  Athanas.  c,  Arian.  Or,  iv.  12,  13  ; for  other  statements  of  his  doc- 
trine, see  Gieseler,  Ch.  H.  \ 60,  n.  10  (Smith’s  Am.  ed.).  In  the  monad  there 
was  a power  of  contraction  and  expansion — systole  and  ektasis. 

45  S.  Basil,  ep.  210,  214.  ^ Epiphan,  Hceres.  Ixii.  i.  47Euseb.  vi.  33. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


171 


Schools 

AND 

Parties. 


Somewhat  later  still,  Paul  of  Samosata,  Bishop  of  Antioch, 
taught  a kind  of  deification  of  the  blameless  man  sa^w^ita 
Jesus,  by  an  impersonal,  indwelling  Logos.^® 

While  many  in  this  way  were  seduced  by  a philosophizing 
spirit  into  open  heresy,  there  were  innumerable  others  who 
speculated  to  the  utmost  limit  of  the  rule  of  faith,  and  viii. 
perplexed  simple  souls  by  subtle  distinctions  and  anal- 
ogies.The  Logos  of  S.  John  was  to  philosophic 
minds  particularly  suggestive.  God  silent  might  be  distinguished 
from  God  speaking,  or  the  Word  inirnanent  in  the  Father  from 
the  Word  forthgoing  into  creation  or  redemption,  in  such  a 
way  as  to  express  any  amount  of  vital  truth,  or  to  cover  any 
amount  of  dangerous  error.  The  same  may  be  said  of  school 0/ 
the  theories  of  emissions,  processions,  emanations,  ex-  Progress, 
pansions,  and  the  like,  by  which  the  relation  of  the  Son  to  the 
Father  was  sometimes  more  clearly  than  satisfactorily  explained. 
Justin  Martyr,  with  his  contemporaries  Athenagoras  and  Tatian, 
Theophilus  of  Antioch,  the  Alexandrine  School,  and  in  the 
West  Hippolytus  and  Tertullian,  were  among  the  most  active 
in  these  efforts  to  give  what  may  be  called  a philosophic  expres- 
sion to  the  Faith  commonly  received.  On  the  other  Tradition- 
hand,  the  cautious,  traditionary,  reverential  school, 
which  lingered  to  the  end  of  the  second  century  in  the  person 
of  Iren8eus,5°  was  wary  of  the  use  of  scientific  terms,  and  taught 


48  See  Book  III.  ch.  5. 

49  On  the  subject  of  the  remainder  of  this  chapter  there  are  many  modern 
writers  of  first-rate  ability;  see  particularly  Burton,  Testimonies  of  the  Ante- 
Nicene  Fathers,  and  Hagenbach,  History  of  Doctrines.  In  the  latter  are 
concise  summaries  of  the  results  of  German  criticism.  See  also  Neander, 
Hist,  of  Christ.  Dogmas. 

50  “ If  any  one  shall  ask,  How  was  the  Son  produced  from  the  Father? — 
we  answer.  No  one  knows  . . . save  alone  the  Father  who  begat  and  the  Son 
who  was  begotten.’^  S.  Iren.  Adv.  Hceres.  ii.  28.  In  the  same  way  he  ridi- 
cules those  theological  obstetricians,  who  professing  in  one  breath  that  “ His 
generation  is  indescribable,”  go  on  in  the  next  to  describe  His  generation  and 
forthgoing,  by  such  analogies  as  “ a word  emitted  from  a thought.”  “ That  a 
word  is  emitted  from  a thought  is  what  everybody  knows.  It  is  therefore  no 
great  discovery  they  tnake  who  talk  about  emissions,  and  apply  the  term  to 


172 


History  of  the  Church. 

the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  the  language  of  Scripture  and 
the  Creeds.  Of  the  others  also  it  may  be  said,  that  conserva- 
the  terms  in  which  they  taught  maybe  distinguished 
from  those  in  which  they  explained^  the  latter  being,  as  a gen- 
eral rule,  more  open  to  suspicion. 

The  traditionary  ground,  however,  couid  not  be  retained, 
without  at  all  events  a thorough  examination.  Christianity  as  a 
Faith  and  Truth,  or  rather  as  the  Truth,  offered  a constant  chal- 
Knowiedge.  philosophic  world.  But  to  maintain  that 

challenge  she  was  forced  in  a measure  to  adopt  the  language  of 
the  Schools,  and  to  answer  a multitude  of  questions  which  the 
mass  of  simple  believers  would  never  have  thought  of  asking. 
As  Origen  intimates,  the  generality  of  those  who  called  them- 
selves Christians,  knowing  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified,  thought  they  had  the  whole  Logos  in  the  Word  made 
flesh.  A lower  class  (the  Ebionites  or  Nazarenes)  thought  they 
had  the  whole  when  they  recognized  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  David. 
But  the  higher  man  rises  in  the  intellectual  scale,  the  deeper  is 
the  significance  of  that  question.  What  think  ye  of 
anfpil^-  Christ?  It  was  a matter  of  simple  necessity,  then, 
tnc  ions.  Truth  revealed  to  the  Church  should  undergo 

a theoretic  scrutiny,  and  that  distinctions  which  readily  occurred 
to  speculative  minds  should  be  at  first  overlooked,  or  dimly 
apprehended,  and  should  afterwards,  before  they  were  settled, 

the  only  begotten  Word  of  God;  likening  Him  whom  they  call  indescribable 
and  unutterable  ...  to  a word  uttered  or  emitted  by  man.”  In  other  words, 
Irenseus  saw  the  fallacy,  common  to  thinkers  of  all  ages,  of  imagining  that  by 
giving  new  names  to  things  they  shed  new  light  upon  them, 

5^  Even  Irenoeus  is  accused  (by  Duncker  and  others)  of  hopeless  self- 
contradiction,  because  his  constant  assertion  of  the  equality  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son  can  be  coupled  with  such  phrases  as  “ the  Father  is  above  all,  being 
Himself  the  head  of  the  Son.” 

52  Some  theories  served  as  2i  scaffoldings  so  to  speak : e.g.y  the  doctrine  of 
subordination,  which,  before  the  distinctions  of  substance,  person,  and  office 
were  generally  apprehended,  enabled  philosophic  minds  to  hold  to  the  person- 
ality of  the  Son.  The  same  is  to  be  said  of  the  analogies — such  as  fire  light- 
ing^r^,  thoughts  emitting  words,  etc.,  etc.  Among  the  terms  finally  adopted 


Heresies  and  Schools.  173 

give  rise  to  variations  of  expression,  or  even  to  mutual  distrust 
and  misapprehension. 

The  Church,  in  fact,  had  two  works  before  her.  The  one 
was  to  hold  the  simple  Creed.  The  other  was  to  frame  those 
noble  instruments,  the  Latin  and  Greek  tongues,  into  offices 
a fitness  for  the  expression  of  all  that  the  Creed  con- 

Church. 

tains.  The  latter  task  devolved  upon  the  Schools ; 
the  former  upon  the  Church  itself — upon  the  common  sense, 
that  is,  of  believers  as  a body.  To  meet  both  require-  Freedom  of 
ments,  fixed  limits  of  belief  were  essential ; but  within  opinion. 
those  limits  a reasonable  freedom  of  private  speculation. ^3  Ac- 
cordingly, amid  all  the  uncertainties  arising  from  illusive  analo- 
gies or  inadequate  definitions,  three  points  at  least  remained 
fixed  in  the  general  consciousness  of  the  Church.  God  is  one  : 
Christ  is  God : Christ  is  a Person  distinct  from  the 

Fixed 

Person  of  the  Father.  Within  those  limits,  which  in  Limits  of 
ordinary  teaching  were  respected  even  by  those  who 
in  their  larger  flights  of  speculation  seemed  to  disregard  them, 
no  little  freedom  was  allowed.  But  when  those  limits  were 
transceftded  by  any  teacher,  however  eminent  in  his  position  or 
distinguished  for  his  abilities;  when,  in  other  words,  either  the 
proper  divinity  or  the  distinct  personality  of  the  Son  of  God 
was  denied ; then  the  Churchly  and  orthodox  instinct  made 
itself  felt.  In  the  same  way,  the  undeviating  direction  of  belief 
was  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  drift  of  all  discussion  was  to  bring 
out  more  fully  and  more  fairly,  against  the  Gnostics,  the  real 
and  perfect  humanity  of  our  Lord. 

In  points  of  secondary  interest  there  was  equal  activity  of 


in  the  Church  were  the  trias  of  Theophilus,  the  trinitas  of  Tertullian,  the 
eternal  generation  of  Origen  : the  komoousion  had  a harder  struggle,  being 
much  favored  by  the  Sabellians,  and  associated  more  or  less  with  notions  of 
division  or  expansion.  See  Hagenbach,  40-46. 

53  Bishop  Bull,  Defensio  Fidei  Niccence,  champions  the  substantial  ortho- 
doxy of  the  ante-Nicene  fathers : Petavius,  the  learned  Jesuit,  De  Theologicis 
Dogmaticis^  impugns  it.  More  recent  writers  are  found  in  countless  numbers 
on  either  side. 


1 74  History  of  the  Church. 


Minor 

Points. 


mind,  with  more  room  for  philosophizing.  The  Apologist  nat- 
urally undertook  to  answer  the  many  subtle  questions 
with  which  his  accomplished  predecessor  the  Sophist 
had  wearied  himself  to  little  or  no  purpose.  Hence  the  origin 
of  evil,  the  eternity  of  matter,  the  nature  of  spirit  and  of  body, 
or  of  souls,  angels,  demons ; and,  in  fact,  a multiplicity  of  prob- 
lems, physical  or  metaphysical,  were  answered  by  guesses  more 
or  less  ingenious,  and  more  or  less  supported  by  texts  of  Script- 
ure interpreted  according  to  the  science  of  the  times.s-^  At  the 
bottom  of  all  this  there  was  a real  thirst  for  knowledge.  There 
was  something,  too,  of  the  old  ambition  of  the  Sophists : a de- 
sire to  appear  to  know  everything,  or  perhaps  a more  creditable 
wish,  though  not  more  reasonable,  that  the  Church  should  be 
shown  to  have  the  keys  to  all  kinds  of  science.  From  which- 
spirit  of  ever  cause  it  came,  the  passion  for  opening  mysteries 
Inquiry.  goon  passed  the  bounds  of  moderation  among  a large 
class  of  teachers  ; leading  in  all  the  great  schools  to  a bias  more 
or  less  heretical,  and  preparing  the  way  for  a long  and  deadly 
conflict  with  new  shapes  of  evil. 

But  the  bringing  out  of  a true  Christian  gnosis  from  the  rich 
stores  of  Revelation  was  none  the  less  a real  and  necessary  task ; 

towards  the  fulfilment  of  which  each  great  division  of 
the  Church  was  led  by  a sure  instinct  to  do  its  own 
part.  The  more  practical  West,  headed  by  Rome 
and  North  Africa,  directed  its  attention  mainly  to  questions  of 
Church  life  ; and  in  theology  was  more  solicitous  to 
guard  the  traditional  belief  than  curiously  to  explore 
its  philosophic  meaning.  Irenaeus,  in  the  spirit  of  the  school 
of  Polycarp,  appealed  to  the  tradition, or  common  teaching. 


Three 

Chief 

Schools. 


The  West. 


54  See  Mosheim’s  Commentaries j art.  oii/Origen. 

55  This  was  a purely  practical  ground ; and  it  is  easy  to  see  (the  principal 
passages  are  given  in  Gieseler,  §51)  that  it  meant  nothing  more  than  the 
cotmnon  beliefs  as  opposed  either  to  secret  traditions  or  private  speculations. 
Hence  Rome  was  entitled  to  particular  weight,  as  being  a centre  of  universal 
resort,  a point  of  confluence  to  opinions  and  traditions  from  all  quarters  : — “ in 
qua  semper  ab  his  qui  sunt  undique  conservata  est  ea  quae  est  ab  apostolis  tra- 
ditio.”  See  Book  III.  chap.  iv.  of  this  History. 


Heresies  and  Schools. 


175 


of  the  Apostolic  Churches.  Tertullian,  in  like  manner,  laid  no 
little  stress  on  prescription^  and  on  the  rule  of  faith,  ‘^una  om- 
nino  sola  immobilis  et  irreformabilis.  ’ * In  controversy,  how- 
ever, with  Praxeas  and  the  patripassian  heresy,  he  was  driven, 
as  usual  in  controversy,  into  the  erection  of  those  hastily  formed 
defences  which  may  be  called  the  field-works  of  theology 
theories  which  crumble  of  themselves  as  soon  as  they  have 
served  their  temporary  purpose.  Rome,  being  about 
equally  beset  by  the  patripassian  and  the  subordination 
doctrine,  kept  in  the  main  a steady  balance  between  the  two. 
Novatian,  the  famous  schismatic,  argued  solidly  and  clearly  for 
the  orthodox  belief.  Dionysius,  Bishop  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
third  century,  made  the  nearest  app*roach,  perhaps,  of  any  the- 
ologian during  that  period,  to  the  exact  via  media  of  the  Nicene 
definitions. Qn  the  whole,  however,  the  West  was  more  dis- 
tinguished for  holding  the  Faith,  than  for  shedding  much  light 
upon  it.  In  the  East  it  was  almost  the  reverse.  Every- 
thing  tended  there  towards  refined  and  subtle  specula- 
tions. ■ In  the  two  great  schools  of  Antioch  in  Syria,  and  Alex- 
andria*in  Egypt,  the  one  distinguished  for  its  rational,  the  other 
for  its  ultra-spiritual  bias,  numberless  questions  were  opened  and 
explored,  many  positions  were  taken  which  proved  untenable, 
and  the  minds  of  the  learned  were  more  or  less  troubled ; but 
the  result,  on  the  whole,  was  an  advance  in  the  direction  of  a 
lively  understanding  of  the  Creed,  as  not  merely  ^^a  rule  of  be- 
lief,^* but  rather  an  all-pervading  essence  and  spirit  of  the  truth. 
Thus  the  East  and  the  West,  or  more  precisely  Rome, 
Alexandria,  and  Antioch,  supplied  one  another's  de- 
ficiencies ; and  were  the  threefold  cord  of  witness,  as  it 
were,  by  which  every  word  of  the  common  trust  became  more 
firmly  bound  upon  the  minds  and  consciences  of  believers. 

5®  He  is  liable  to  the  charge  of  subordinationism,  Tertull.  Adv.  Prax, 
ii. ; and  therefore  had  to  defend  himself  against  the  charge  of  tritheism  : Adv, 
Prax.  iii. 

57  See  Gieseler,  \ 66,  n.  16. 


176 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

HERESIES  HOW  MET. COUNCIL. 

Of  the  vast  flood  of  heresies,  partly  enumerated  and  described  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  the  same  general  account  may  be  given 
Heresies  of  the  waters  poured  forth  from  the  mouth  of  the 
^anfdfsin-  dragon  who  persecuted  the  Woman  of  the  Apoca- 
tegrated,  lypge ; the  earth  opened  her  mouth  and  swallowed 
them  up.  They  were  not  vanquished  by  wisdom,  or  by  mental 
prowess  only ; though  logic  in  every  form  was  vigorously  em- 
ployed against  them  : it  was  rather  that  they  destroyed  them- 
selves ; being  providentially  divided  and  subdivided,  flowing 
into  sect-channels  which  became  ever  more  narrow  and  more 
shallow,  till,  gradually  absorbed  into  heathenism,  they  so  disap- 
peared and  came  to  naught. 

The  Gnostic  systems  especially  had  in  them  no  principle  of 
union,  or  even  of  cohesion.  Their  existence,  therefore,  is  chiefly 
Ageof  interesting  as  showing  the  mental  subtlety  and  activity 
Dialectics.  timcs,  and  as  in  part  accounting  for  that  transi- 

tion which  took  place,  from  an  age  of  simple  faith  to  one  of 
dialectics  and  polemical  discussion.  It  was  gnosticism,  in  fact, 
which  awakened  the  Church  to  a consciousness  of  her  vast  intel- 
lectual resources.  In  the  presence  of  this  great  development 
of  heathen  wisdom,  she  felt  that  she  must  convince  the  minds 
as  well  as  win  the  hearts  of  men.  From  the  high  ground  of 
simple  dogma  she  must  descend  into  the  arena  of  philosophic 
disputation.  The  candle  of  the  Gospel,  once  lighted,  could 
not  be  hid  under  a bushel.  It  must  shed  its  light  upon  that 
medley  of  loose  notions  by  which  the  world  was  distracted. 


Heresies  how  Met. — Councils. 


177 


By  a natural  instinct,  therefore,  and  in  the  main  a healthy  one, 
the  successors  of  Polycarp  and  Pothinus  departed  more  and 
more  from  the  quiet  ways  of  these  venerable  fathers,  and  threw 
themselves  earnestly  into  the  great  battles  of  the  day. 

The  contest  with  the  Montanist  and  other  sensuous  heresies 
had  a similar  effect : though,  in  this  case,  the  energies  of  the 
Church  were  drawn  into  a different  channel,  and  ques-  Weapons 
tions  of  discipline  or  order  attracted  the  chief  atten- 
tion.  When  the  Phrygian  enthusiasm  first  broke  out,  the  Clergy, 
strong  in  simple  faith,  and  unaccustomed  to  the  use  of  dialectic 
weapons,  were  for  a little  while  content  to  exorcise  the  evil. 
They  soon  found  that  it  was  a spirit  not  so  easily  allayed. 
Though  such  men  as  “ Zoticus  of  Comana  and  Julian  of  Apa- 
mea,  eminent  Bishops  of  the  Church,”  attempted  ^‘to  examine 
the  babbling  spirit,  their  tongues  were  bridled,”  we  are  told, 
‘^by  a certain  Themison  and  his  followers.”  In  the  same  way, 
‘‘  the  blessed  Sotas  in  Anchialus  wished  to  cast  out  the  daemon 
from  Priscilla,  but  the  hypocrites  would  not  allow  him.”  Some 
who  made  similar  efforts  from  motives  of  vainglory  Exorcism 
not  only  failed,  but  became  themselves  victims  of  the 
contagious  disorder.^  Others  were  satisfied  to  avoid,  or  simply 
rebuke,  the  possession,  and  by  this  prudent  course  escaped 
injury  themselves,  but  do  not  seem  to  have  been  able  to  neutral- 
ize its  power.  The  Phrygian  ecstasy,  in  short,  was  a phenom- 
enon by  which  the  wisest  heads  were  not  a little  puzzled.  If  it 
was,  what  religious  men  believed,  a demoniacal  possession,*  it 
was  manifestly  one  of  that  kind  which  requires  something  more 
than  adjuration  to  cast  it  out. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  highly  interesting  to  ob- 
serve, as  the  necessity  of  confuting  the  new  doctrine  Reason 
became  more  apparent,  how  cautiously  the  simple 
faith  of  the  times  girded  itself,  as  it  were,  for  the  unwelcome 

* Euseb.  V.  16,  19. 

*The  alternate  elation  and  dejection  of  the  victims  of  this  delusion  are 
described  by  Euseb.  v.  16.  Its  analogy  to  phenomena  in  modern  “ Spiritual- 
ism” must  strike  every  one  who  has  looked  into  this  remarkable  frenzy. 

8* 


178 


History  of  the  Church. 


task. 3 For  a long  time  urged/^  remarks  one,  ^^to  write  a 
discourse  against  the  heresy,  I have  been  somewhat  in  doubt  until 
now,  not  indeed  for  want  of  argument  to  confute  the  false  doc- 
, trine,  but  from  a fearful  apprehension  test  I should 

Wholesome 

dread  of  seeui  to  be  utterinp^  new  precepts,  or  to  be  adding  some- 
thing  to  that  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
no  one  who  would  live  according  to  the  Gospel  should  add  to 
or  diminish.’*  With  many  such  misgivings,  the  controversy 
after  awhile  was  fairly  inaugurated.  Apollinaris  of  Hierapolis 
in  Asia ; Miltiades,  a philosopher.  Apologist,  and  historian ; 
Serapion,  the  eighth  Bishop  of  Antioch  ; Apollonius,  who  wrote 
just  forty  years  after  Montanus  arose,  and  many  other  leading 
minds  of  the  day,  met  the  new  prophets  in  oral  disputation  and 
in  writing  ; or  fortified  the  faith  of  believers  with  copious  proofs 
from  the  Scriptures,  that  ecstasy  was  a mark  of  diabolic  rather 
than  of  divine  inspiration.  The  question  thus  opened  was  one 
of  the  most  difficult  in  religion,  and  was  most  elaborately  dis- 
cussed. That  the  Spirit  does  not  overpower  or  extin- 

Operation  ...  , i-i  i i .• 

guish,  but  elevates  and  quickens  the  natural  powers  of 

spirit, 

man ; that  even  under  the  hand  of  the  Most  High,  the 
prophet  is  not  a mere  instrument  or  organ,  but  rather  a laborer 
together  with  God ; that,  in  short,  the  man  inspired  is  a man  in 
full  possession  of  his  reason,  was  argued  with  great  ability  from 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New ; and  in  the  development  of 
this  argument  a new  impulse  was  given  to  the  critical  study  of 
the  Scriptures.  ‘‘The  false  prophet,”  it  was  con- 
Propheis  tended,^  “is  carried  away  by  a vehement  ecstasy 
an  as , j shamc  or  apprehension.  Let  the  followers  of 

Montanus  show,  that  any  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament  were  thus 
violently  agitated  and  carried  away  in  spirit : that  Agabus,  or 
Judas,  or  Silas,  or  the  daughters  of  Philip,  or  Ammias  in  Phil- 
adelphia, or  Quadratus,  or  others  such-like,  ever  acted  in  this 
way.”  Thus,  gifts  of  prophetic  power  were  not  declared  im- 
possible ; the  Church,  in  fact,  generally  believed  in  their  con- 

sEuseb.  V.  1 6. 

^Euseb.  V.  17. 


Heresies  how  Met. — Councils. 


Synods. 


* Heresies  how  Met, — LounciLs.  179 

tinuance,  or  at  least  in  their  occasional  reappearance : it  was 
merely  contended  that  the  claim  to  such  gifts  should  spirits 
be  tested  by  the  rules  of  reason,  common-sense,  and  '^ried. 
Holy  Scripture. 

But  in  this  general  resort  to  reason  and  dialectic  skill,  it  was 
not  forgotten  that  the  Church  is  in  a special  sense  the  The 

witness  to  the  Truth ; and  that  it  is  her  office  to  con-  Witness. 
fute  error  by  the  force  of  united  testimony,  as  well  as  by  the 
weapons  of  argument  and  persuasion. 

Whether  Provincial  Synods^  had  been  held  before  the  rise 
of  the  Phrygian  delusion,  the  silence  of  antiquity  leaves  uncer- 
tain. Gnosticism,  perhaps,  was  too  remote  from  the 
sympathies  of  believers,  or  too  obviously  at  variance 
with  the  Creed,  to  need  any  formal  or  united  testimony  against 
it.  It  appealed  to  philosophic  minds,  and  such  minds  could 
meet  it  with  philosophic  weapons.  But  Montanism  was 
eminently  a popular  delusion.  Its  prominent  features  were  but 
slight  exaggerations  of  errors  more  or  less  tolerated,  or  even  of 
truths  or  half-truths  commonly  received.  It  had  been  warmed 
into  life  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  Church.  And  as  with  Mon- 
tanism, so  with  the  rationalistic  errors  that  arose  in  the  contro- 
versy with  it.  While  Christians  everywhere  acknowl- 
edged  one  supreme  and  only  God,  and  everywhere 
confessed  in  this  Godhead  the  Names  of  three  Persons,  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ; yet  with  regard  to  the  great  mystery  of 
the  Three  in  One  there  had  been  little  controversy,  and  con- 
sequently little  need  of  subtle  definitions.  Plausible  misstate- 

S The  Apostolic  Councils  mentioned  in  the  Acts  (i.  vi.  xv.)  are  a more 
than  sufficient  precedent  for  the  Synods  of  later  times,  inasmuch  as  the  Apos- 
tles, being  individually  inspired,  had  less  need  to  confer  with  one  another  or 
with  the  Elders  and  Brethren.  It  may  be  observed  of  these  Councils,  that 
(i)  there  was  particular  business  before  each;  (2)  special  prayer  for  divine 
guidance;  (3)  business  proposed  and  so  far  as  necessary  discussed;  (4)  a 
decision  pronounced,  agreed  to  by  all  present  and  put  forth  in  the  name  of 
all : see  Acts  i.  16,  24;  vi.  5;  xv.  22,  23.  Venerable  Bede  supposes  that  the 
Assembly  in  Acts,  xxi.  18,  was  also  a Council;  namely,  a Council  of  the 
Jerusalem  Church. 


i8o  History  of  the  Church.  ^ • 

merits,  therefore,  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  especially  if 
found  available  in  the  war  against  Montanus,  might  easily 
obtain  currency  among  a large  number  of  believers.  From  an 
instinctive  feeling  of  danger  on  this  side,  the  Bishops  fell  back 
upon  the  Catholic  unity  of  the  Church,  or,  in  fact,  upon  the 
First  collegiate  type  of  the  ministerial  office ; were  more 
frequent  than  hitherto  in  conference  and  correspon- 
reguiar.  (Jence ; and  Synods,  at  first  occasional,  afterwards 
more  regular,  and  at  length  once  or  twice  a year,  became  in  a 
short  time  the  settled  order  of  things.  It  is  not  improbable, 
however,  that  such  Councils  had  been  holden  from  time  to 
time,  long  before  they  began  to  make  a figure  in  Church  his- 
tory.^ The  primitive  Church,  as  a general  rule,  took  very  little 
pains  to  record  its  own  beginnings. 

In  these  early  Councils  the  proceedings  seem  to  have  been 
of  a very  simple  character.  The  Brethren  came  together ; 
^ ^ namely.  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  in  the  presence 

Witness  to  of  the  People  : and  united  their  voices  and  subscrip- 

the  Truth,  . . . i -i  • -i  • 

tions  in  testimony  to  the  Truth,  or  in  condemnation 
of  some  error.  Thus  the  Martyrs  of  Lyons,  when  in  prison, 
formed  a kind  of  concilium^  and  as  such  bore  their  witness 
against  the  heresy  of  Montanus.  So,  in  a letter  of  Serapion  of 
Antioch,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  there  are  subscriptions  of  several 
Bishops:  for  example,  ‘^I,  Aurelius  Cyrenius,  a Witness;  or, 
^lius  Publius  Julius,  Bishop  of  Debeltum,  a colony  of  Thrace, 
as  sure  as  God  lives  in  Heaven.**  In  another  early  Synod, 
headed  by  Apollonius  of  Corinth, ^ it  is  mentioned  that  with  the 
signatures  many  testimonies  of  the  Scriptures  were  inserted  : 

to  show  that  their  zeal  was  against  the  wicked  sects,  not 
against  the  persons  of  the  sectarians.** 

^ One  of  the  earliest  on  record  (after  Apostolic  times)  is  said  to  have  been 
holden  in  Sicily,  about  A.d.  125,  against  one  Heracleon,  a follower  of  Valen- 
tinus, who  taught  that  sin  hi  the  baptized  is  no  longer  sin.  See  Mansi,  Con- 
cilia, For  others,  see  Routh’s  Reliqu,  Sacr, 

7 Mansi,  Concilia j tom.  i.  p.  681.  The  proceedings  of  the  African  Coun- 
cil, appended  to  S.  Cyprian’s  works,  will  give  a clear  idea  of  the  way  in 
which  things  were  managed  in  those  bodies. 


# Heresies  how  Met. — Councils.  1 8 i 

It  is  probable  that  the  passion  of  legislation,  the  besetting 
sin  of  assemblies  of  this  kind,  was  little  felt  before  the  middle 
or  towards  the  end  of  the  third  century.  The  earliest  Passion  for 
canons  are  aimed  chiefly  at  two  extremes  a proud 
ascetic  spirit  encroaching  on  the  one  side,  and  heathenish  im- 
moralities and  irregularities  overflowing  on  the  other. 

However  this  may  be,  the  same  cause  that  brought  the 
Apostles  and  Brethren  together  in  conference  during  the  first 
century,  was  found  equally  operative  with  the  Bishops  councils 
and  People  of  the  second.  The  instinct  of  self-defence 
is  a sufficient  reason  in  both  cases.  S.  Paul,  contending  against 
the  rigid  views  of  the  Judaizers  in  Antioch,  was  strengthened 
for  the  battle  by  the  united  testimony  of  the  Apostles,  Elders, 
and  Brethren  in  Jerusalem. ^ So,  in  later  times,  the  Doctor  or 
Disputer,  whose  painful  duty  it  was  to  shut  the  mouths  of 
heretics,  had  need  to  be  corrected  or  confirmed,  whichever  it 
might  be,  by  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  great  body  of  his 
Brethren. 

But  when,  as  sometimes  happened.  Councils  themselves 
became  parties  in  controversy,  a remedy  could  be  found  only  in 
waiting  for  the  action  of  larger,  more  general,  and  synods 
more  impartial  Synods.  Such  was  the  case  with  the  ag^ainsi 

Synods, 

long  continued  strife  about  the  Asiatic  Pascha.  In 

this  case,  Italian  and  other  Councils  were  opposed  to  Asiatic. 

The  same  difficulty  was  experienced  in  the  baptismal  contro- 

2 See  Apostolic  Constitutions  and  Canons ; also,  Canons  of  early  African 
Synods,  in  Munter’s  Primordia  Eccl.  Afric. 

9 Acts,  XV.  It  is  pleasing  to  notice  in  the  latest  Synods  of  this  period 
that  the  Apostolic  precedent  was  still  closely  followed ; that  Bishops,  Presby- 
ters, Deacons,  and  People  were  all  present.  What  share  the  People  had  in 
the  proceedings  is  not  easy  to  determine.  Bishops,  at  that  period,  being  in 
part  chosen  by  the  People,  and  being  from  the  nature  of  their  office  in  con- 
stant intercourse  with  them,  were  eminently  representatives  of  what  may  be 
called  the  lay-sense  of  the  Church.  Few  cases  occurred,  therefore,  in  which 
the  sentiments  of  the  Bishops  and  of  the  People  materially  differed.  When- 
ever an  opposition  party  existed,  it  found  its  main  strength  among  the  Clergy. 
See  Pusey,  Councils  of  the  Churchy  Oxf.  1857. 


i82 


History  of  the  Church.  % 

versy.  But  even  in  such  cases,  the  habit  of  looking  from 
individual,  local,  or  sectional  disputants  to  the  great  body  of  the 
Sobering  Brethren,  and  of  awaiting  their  decision,  had  undoubt- 
jnjiuence.  ^ sobering  and  liberalizing  effect ; so  that  differ- 

ences which  in  any  other  society  would  have  led  to  grievous 
schisms,  were  in  the  case  of  Catholics  kept  in  charitable  suspen- 
sion, till  finally  the  times  were  ripe  for  a settlement  satifactory 
to  all.  In  this  way  it  happened,  that  the  great  Council  of  Nice 
had  questions  up  before  it  which  had  been  mooted  for  two 
centuries  or  more.  Its  decisions  were  the  complement  of  the 
decisions  of  many  preceding  Synods. 

In  short,  that  new  aspect  of  Church  life  which  marks  the 
latter  half  of  the  second  century,  was  a necessary  and  wholesome 
adaptation  to  altered  circumstances.  The  Church,  in 

New  Tzmes, 

New  her  conflict  with  the  great  Serpent,  had  to  be  led  into 

Strength.  « x 

the  wilderness,  as  it  were.  Amid  new  and  searching 
trials,  she  was  to  become  conscious  of  new  strength. 

From  lack  of  appreciation  of  this  fact,  the  history  of  primi- 
tive Christianity  has  been  much  misunderstood.  On  the  one 
hand,  virtues  have  been  attributed  to  this  period  with  a rhetori- 
cal profusion  unwarranted  by  facts.  On  the  other  hand,  every 
change  or  imagined  change  has  been  regarded  as  a corruption. 
But,  in  sober  truth,  there  is  no  portion  of  Church  history  which 
has  not  vices  enough  in  it  to  shock  a sensitive  mind,  or  virtues 
enough,  if  looked  for,  to  command  its  admiration.  The  real 
proof  of  an  age  is,  how  it  meets  its  own  trials,  and  accomplishes 
its  own  work.  To  judge  aright,  therefore,  of  the  complex  and 
^ ^ often  painful  details  of  the  period  we  are  now  approach- 
judgedby  ing,  not  only  the  varied  character  of  the  conflict  from 

its  Trials.  ...  ..  ^ . 

Within  and  from  without,  but  the  infinite  importance 
of  the  interests  at  stake,  and  above  all,  the  mingled  earnestness 
and  frivolity  of  an  age  equally  profligate  and  enlightened,  must 
be  taken  into  the  account  and  kept  charitably  in  view. 


S.  Irenceus  and  his  Disciples. 


183 


CHAPTER  IX. 

S.  IREN^US  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES. 

With  the  exception  of  two  distinguished  Africans,  Minucius 
Felix  the  Apologist,  and  Tertullian  the  father  of  Latin  theology, 
all  the  leading  champions  of  the  Faith,  at  the  end  of  Leading 
the  second  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  third, 
were  Greek  in  extraction,  language,  and  intellectual  habits.  Of 
these,  S.  Irenseus  was  in  the  West  the  most  prominent  example. 

Brought  up  from  early  childhood  under  the  eye  of  Poly- 
carp, Pothinus,  Papias,  and  other  disciples  of  S.  John,  he  was 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  that  devout  and  irenaus^ 
thoughtful  school.  But  he  was  an  eager  inquirer  also 
into  all  the  learning  of  his  age.*  So  far  as  can  be  judged  from 
the  few  fragments  that  remain  of  the  Greek  original,  his  style 
is  not  devoid  of  elegance  and  good  taste.  But  the  rich  and 
expressive  imagery  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  fresh  world  of 
thought  which  had  come  in  with  Christianity,  no  longer  admitted 
of  strict  adherence  to  classic  models.  To  hold  the 
new  wine  of  the  Gospel,  new  bottles  must  be  made. 

The  zest  with  which  the  early  Fathers  studied  the  sacred  writings ; 
their  profound  and  lively  faith  in  the  divine  Spirit  that  breathed 
through  them ; the  loving  ingenuity  with  which  they  made  all 
parts  alike  profitable  for  instruction  ; their  luminous  method  of 
quoting ; and  above  all,  the  extraordinary  aptness,  abundance, 
and  diversity  of  their  citations,  were  creating  a new  literature 
quite  different  from  the  classic,  and  requiring  to  be  judged  by 
an  entirely  different  rule.  Irenseus  was  one  of  the  most  discreet 


* Tertull.  Advers.  Valent,  5. 


184  History  of  the  Church. 

of  the  first  laborers  in  this  field.  His  wonderful  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures,  however,  was  a knowledge  of  the  heart  even  more 
than  of  the  head ; and  his  interpretations,  if  judged  by  modern 
canons,  are  liable  to  the  charge  of  occasional  extravagance. 

He  had,  in  fact,  the  faults  as  well  as  merits  of  his  school. 
Seeing  Christ  in  everything,  and  delighting  more  in  the  applica- 
tion than  in  t^e  critical  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures, 

Blemishes,  . . 1 • -i . 

he  was  yet  m some  points  a literalist  to  a dangerous 
extent.  From  Papias  he  inherited  the  Millenarian  doctrine. 
Like  Justin,  he  regarded  the  sons  of  God  mentioned  in  Genesis* 
as  angelic  beings.  He  believed  the  story  of  the  miraculous 
agreement  and  plenary  inspiration  of  the  authors  of  the  Septua- 
gint  version,  as  also  the  singular  notion  that  the  Hebrew  Script- 
ures had  perished  before  the  days  of  Ezra,  who  was 

Bf'ctdiiiofts. 

miraculously  enabled  to  reproduce  them.  Fancies  of 
this  kind  he  took  at  second  hand,  relying  upon  the  authority  of 
such  men  as  Papias,  or  upon  the  credit  of  apocryphal  produc- 
tions.^ For  his  opinion  that  our  Lord  was  forty  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  His  crucifixion,  he  gives  the  authority  of  S.  Poly- 
carp and  other  hearers  of  S.  John  ; which,  as  the  ancient  mind 
remembered  numbers  chiefly  by  symbolical  association,  was 
probably  a mere  slip  of  memory.  With  a few  blemishes  of  this 
kind,  all  of  them  more  or  less  traceable  to  private  and  apocry- 
phal traditions,  the  extant  works  of  S.  Irenaeus'^  are  among  the 
most  valuable  of  the  remains  of  the  first  three  centuries. 

At  what  time  he  removed  from  Asia  Minor  to  Lyons  has  not 
been  definitely  ascertained.  It  is  only  known  that  at  the  period 
irencBus  of  the  Lyonnese  persecution  he  was  a distinguished 
Bishop.  Presbyter  of  that  Church  ; and  was  intrusted  by  the 
martyrs  then  in  prison  with  the  letter  which  they  wrote  to  Eleu- 

* Gen.  vi.  2. 

3 Such  as  the  IVth  Book  of  Esdras;  for  the  sayings  of  Papias  and  other 
senior es  apud  Irenaum^  see  Routh,  Reliqti.  Sacr.  vol.  i. 

^ S.  IrenjEi  Episc.  Lugdunensis  et  Martyr.  Contra  Hcereses^  etc.  D.  R. 
Massuet,  Paris,  MDCCX. ; Beaven’s  Life  and  Times  of  S.  Irenceus  ; Tillemont, 
Memoir eSy  etc.,  tom.  iii. ; and  the  five  Books  against  Heresies ^ edited  by  Har- 
vey, Cambr.  1857. 


S.  h^e^iceus  and  his  Disciples.  185 

therus  of  Rome,  for  the  promotion  of  peace  among  the  Churches : 
in  testimony,  that  is,  against  the  formidable  novelty  of  ^ ^ 
the  heresy  of  Montanus.  After  the  death  of  Ponthinus 
he  became  Bishop,  and  had  a certain  primacy  over  the  Gallic 
Churches. 5 Of  his  labors  and  influence  in  that  extensive  field, 
little  is  told  us  beyond  the  fact  that  he  sent  missions  to  Besan- 
9on  and  Valence  ; and  became,  in  general,  the  teacher  and 
enlightener  of  the  Celtic  nation. 

His  cares,  however,  were  not  confined  to  his  own  province. 
Connected  with  Asia  Minor  by  birth  and  education,  and  inter- 
ested in  the  affairs  of  the  Roman  Christians  by  his  Troubles 
mission  to  the  imperial  city,  he  was  deeply  concerned 
for  the  growing  troubles  of  Christendom  at  large,  and  for  those 
of  the  Roman  Church  in  particular.  For  the  Metropolis  at  this 
period  was  not  a little  distracted  by  internal  feuds. 

^ ^ ^ ^ Blastus 

One  Blastus,  an  Asiatic  and  a Presbyter,  was  forming 
a party  in  the  Judaizing  direction,  and  made  a point 
of  celebrating  the  Pascha  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month. 
Whether  he  ran  into  formal  schism  is  not  quite  clear.  So  also 
one  Florinus,  a Roman  Presbyter,  alarmed  at  the  bias  that 
existed  among  speculative  minds  towards  the  heresy  of  two 
principles,  maintained  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  monarchy  in 
a way  which  seemed  to  make  God  the  author  of  evil.  Irenaeus 
argued  and  remonstrated  with  both  of  these.  Both  were  Asiatics 
by  birth ; and  Florinus,  in  particular,  he  could  appeal  to  by 
their  joint  remembrance  of  the  saintly  Polycarp.  It  shows 
the  manifold  temptations  of  the  times,  and  the  facility  with 
which  men  glide  from  one  heresy  to  another,  that  Florinus, 
when  driven  from  his  monarchian  position,  took  refuge  in 
the  Valent inian  theory ; finding  the  source  of  all  evil  in  the 
body  of  man,  or  in  the  material  world,  and  making  it  to  have 
dropped,  as  it  were,  from  the  carelessness  of  one  of  the  lower 
aeons. 

The  pursuit  of  error  into  this  new  labyrinth  was  felt  by 
Irenaeus  to  be  a difficult  and  perilous  undertaking.  In  propor- 

5 Euseb.  V.  23. 


i86 


History  of  the  Church. 

tion  as  charity  required  him  to  apply  the  knife  or  the  caustic  to 
the  tumid  errors  that  preyed  upon  the  Church,  the  same  charity 
Caution  of  demanded  that  it  should  be  done  with  tenderness  to 
irenceus.  patient,  and  with  a thorough  understanding  of  the 

exact  nature  of  the  disease.^  In  argument  with  heretics,  every 
word  must  be  weighed,  every  logical  consequence  diligently 
explored.  Hence  the  solemn  adjuration,  with  which  his  treatise 
on  the  Ogdoad  concludes ; and  for  calling  attention  to  which  we 
have  to  thank  Eusebius,  as  it  lets  us  not  into  the  mind  merely, 
but  into  the  very  heart  of  a high-toned,  charitable,  and  consci- 
HisAdjur-  entious  orthodoxy.  ‘‘I  adjure,*’  says  he,  ^‘the  trans- 
ation.  criber  of  this  book  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by 
His  glorious  appearing  when  He  comes  to  judge  the  quick  and 
dead,  that  thou  carefully  compare  and  correct  thy  transcript  by 
this  very  copy,  and  that  thou  transcribe  this  adjuration  and  set 
it  in  thy  copy.”  A book  against  heretics  was  intended  to  be  a 
chart  to  save  souls  from  shipwreck;^  it  must  be  a work,  there- 
fore, of  the  most  scrupulous  accuracy. 

Once  engaged  in  the  study  and  refutation  of  Gnostic  heresies, 
Irenaeus  had  many  reasons  for  perseverance  in  his  task.  One 
The  Mar-  Marcus,  a disciple  of  Valentinus,  had  given  a popular 
cosians.  form  to  the  aeon-system  of  his  master,  and  was  dissem- 
inating it  widely  among  the  cities  of  the  Rhone.  He  was  able, 
by  some  sort  of  legerdemain,  to  convert  the  wine  of  the  Sacra- 
ment into  blood.  By  this  and  similar  arts,  he  attached  to  him- 
self a flock  of  silly  women,  wealthy  and  of  high  rank,  whom  he 
drugged  or  otherwise  induced  into  an  ecstatic  state,  similar  to 
that  witnessed  among  the  Phrygian  prophetesses.  Religions  of 
this  kind,  combining  the  popular  spiritualism  of  the  day  with 
certain  elements  of  the  Gospel,  were  formidable  rivals  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  affections  of  the  people.  Those  who  embraced 
such  systems  were  spiritual  souls  ” ; those  who  rejected  them 
were  ^‘psychical”  or  ‘‘carnal.”  But  as  spiritual  souls,  from 

<5  S.  Iren.  lib.  iii.  c.  46. 

7 S.  Iren.  lib.  iv.  For  an  interesting  collection  of  DircB  et  Adjurationes 
Libris  Additce,  see  Fabricius,  Bibliothec.  Grcec.  lib.  v.  cap.  i. 


S.  IrencBiis  and  his  Disciples,  187 

the  Valentinian  point  of  view,  were  incapable  of  evil  or  of  con- 
tamination by  evil ; and  as  Marcus  among  other  things  pretended 
to  confer  a miraculous  gift  of  invisibility:  the  descent  from 
high-wrought  religious  enthusiasm  to  the  lowest  sensuality  was 
rendered  particularly  easy.  Irenaeus  saw,  in  the  vile  Their  vue 
practices  of  these  Marcosians,  a legitimate  develop- 
ment  of  Gnostic  and  Valentinian  principles.  To  the  study  of 
these  principles,  therefore,  and  to  their  exposure  and  Paschai 
refutation,  he  devoted  a large  portion  of  his  time  for 
many  years.  The  part  he  bore  in  the  Paschal  controversy  was 
highly  honorable,  and  worthy  of  a disciple  of  S.  Polycarp. 

As  already  noticed  in  this  chapter,  there  was  a faction  at 
Rome,  of  which  one  Blastus  seems  to  have  been  chief  in  the 
times  of  Eleutherus,  that  availed  themselves  of  the 

. A.D.  176. 

difference  of  custom  between  Rome  and  Asia  Minor 
as  a handle  of  sedition.  It  is  probable  that  there  were  many 
Asiatic  Christians  in  the  imperial  city.  For  some  time,  accord- 
ing to  the  charitable  understanding  which  existed  between  Poly- 
carp and  Anicetus,  these  seem  to  have  been  allowed  to  follow 
the  custom  of  their  own  country,  ending  the  fast  before  the 
Pascha  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  Nisan,  instead  of  waiting  for 
the  ensuing  Sunday.  Such  differences  would  be  a matter  of 
little  moment,  so  long  as  there  existed  no  other  causes  of  dis- 
sension. But  when  a seditious  spirit  became  almost  a chronic 
evil,  and  especially  when  a Judaizing  bias  began  to  show  itself, 
any  peculiarity,  however  unimportant,  could  be  converted  into 
a rallying  point  for  schism,  or  at  least  of  disaffection.  This 
began  to  be  the  case  with  the  Easter  controversy.  The  succes- 
sors of  Anicetus  could  not  let  the  question  stand  where  he  had 
left  it.  Soter  seems  to  have  found  it  necessary  to  insist 

r • 1 -n*  . / - A.D.  168. 

upon  conformity  to  the  Roman  practice,  on  the  part  of 
those  Asiatics,  at  least,  who  were  residents  in  Rome.  The  ques- 
tion, the  meanwhile,  was  becoming  more  complicated.  Becomes 
The  Laodicean  Christians,  not  content  to  break  the 

. complex. 

fast  at  the  same  time  with  the  Jews,  had,  it  would  seem, 
adopted  the  further  custom  of  eating  a paschal  lamb  on  the 


i88 


History  of  the  Church. 


Victor 
and  the 
Asiatics. 


occasion.^  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Victor,  being 
provoked  without  doubt  by  the  increase  of  the  factious 

A.D.  196.  . 

spirit  before-mentioned,  and  appealing  to  a desire  very 
generally  entertained,  initiated  a movement  towards  uniformity^ 
of  practice  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  He  wrote  to  the  various 
Churches,  and  among  others  to  those  of  Asia  Minor.  He  was 
determined,  he  declared,  that  the  Church  should  have  nothing  in 
common  with  the  yews.  The  movement  excited  a warm  interest 
in  all  quarters.  Many  Councils  were  held,  and  innumerable 
letters  were  written.  Most  of  the  Churches,  especially  those  of 
Jerusalem,  Caesarea,  Corinth,  Osrhoene,  Pontus,  Italy,  and  Gaul, 
decreed  that  the  fast  of  the  Holy  Week  was  not  to  be  broken  till 
Sunday,  the  Day  of  the  Resuri^ction.  On  the  strength  of  this 
general  consent,  Victor  wrote  to  the  Asiatics  in  a more 
decided  tone,  threatening  them  with  excommunication 
if  they  held  out  any  longer.  But  the  Quartodecimans, 
as  they  were  called,  headed  by  Polycrates,  Bishop  of  Ephesus, 
a gray-haired  veteran  of  ‘^slender  frame’'  but  mighty  spirit, 
whose  family  had  furnished  eight  prelates  to  the  Church,  unani- 
mously refused  to  depart  from  their  tradition.  Victor  proceeded 
to  carry  out  his  threat.  In  this,  however,  his  brother  Bishops 
generally  declined  to  go  with  him.  On  the  contrary,  they 
rebuked  him  with  much  severity ; and  exhorted  him  to  return 
to  unity  and  love. 

Irenaeus,  in  particular,  while  he  followed  the  common  custom 
in  preference  to  that  in  which  he  had  been  bred,  was  urgent  in 
his  remonstrances  against  Victor’s  course  ; and  wrote 

IrencEus  i t • • 1 1 1 

Counsels  to  him  and  to  many  other  distinguished  prelates.  From 
his  protest  on  this  occasion  w'e  learn  that  there  still 
existed  no  little  diversity,  both  as  to  the  time  and  as  to  the  man- 
ner of  fasting ; some  observing  one  day,  some  two,  some  more, 

8 This,  however,  is  hardly  more  than  a plausible  conjecture,  founded  on 
slight  intimations  in  Euseb.  iv.  26,  and  in  the  Chronicott  Paschale,  See 
Gieseler,  § 53  (Smith’s  ed.),  n.  34-36.  The  question  whether  our  Lord  ate 
the  paschal  lamb  on  the  fourteenth  day,  or  by  anticipation  on  the  thirteenth, 
is  amply  discussed  in  Dr.  Jarvis’s  Introduction^  part  ii.  ch.  vii. 


189 


S.  IrenceMS  and  his  Disciples. 

before  the  Easter  Feast,  and  some  again  fasting  forty  hours  con- 
secutively. This  diversity  in  small  matters,  Irenaeus  justly  adds, 
made  the  unanimity  of  the  Church  in  more  essential  things  only 
the  more  conspicuous. ^ 

Irenaeus  died,  as  some  say  a martyr,  when  the  Church  of 
Lyons  was  a second  time  devastated,  in  the  persecution  hu  Death, 
under  Severus  about  the  beginning  of  the  third  century. 

The  witness  of  Irenaeus  on  that  most  interesting  subject,  the 
spread  of  Christianity  in  his  day,  is  extremely  vague ; but  we 
may  gather  from  it,  that  not  only  among  the  Gauls,  church 

but  among  the  Germans  on  the  West  of  the  Rhine,  the  Growth, 

Gospel  was  successfully  preached.  His  declaration  that  it  was 
still  attended  with  miraculous  demonstrations  is  some-  ^ 

what  injured  by  his  mentioning  no  particular  example, 
and  by  his  confining  himself  to  the  general  statement  that  such 
things  frequently  occurred.  He  is  careful  to  add,  however,  that 
the  daemons  when  exorcised  returned  no  more ; that  many  re- 
lieved from  them  became  good  Christians ; and  that  when  such 
acts  of  mercy  were  performed,  it  was  done  simply  by  prayer,  in 
the  Name  of  Jesus,  without  any  juggling  ceremonial ; and  in  no 
case  would  any  sort  of  gift  or  recompense  be  accepted.  The 
seriousness  with  which  he  dwells  on  details  of  this  kind  is  suffi- 
cient proof  of  his  own  convictions  on  the  subject,  but  hardly 
enough  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  modern  criticism.*®  It  is  not 
improbable,  however,  that  the  ‘‘gifts’*  lingered  longer  on  the 
outskirts  of  Christianity  in  the  missionary  field,  than  in  regions 
where  the  Church  was  fully  established. 

The  .light  which  Irenaeus  shed  upon  the  West  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  second  century  was  transmitted  to  the  first  half  of 
the  third  by  two  of  his  disciples  : Caius,  a learned  Pres-  Disdpiesof 
byter,  and  perhaps  an  Evangelist  or  Bishop  at  large, 
and  Hippolytus,  still  more  distinguished  as  the  austere  and  philo- 
sophic prelate  of  Porto,  near  Rome. 

9 For  a judicious  account  of  this  and  similar  diversities,  see  Socrates, 
Eccles.  Hist,  v.  22;  also  Sozomen,  vii.  19.  This  latter  gives  quite  a list  of 
peculiarities.  *0  This  point  is  more  fully  considered  in  Book  III.  ch.  8. 


190 


History  of  the  Church. 


Of  the  former,  little  remains  to  warrant  the  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  by  the  ancients.  He  wrote  against  Proculus,  a 
Caius,  Montanistic  teacher,  about  the  time  of  Zephyrinus, 
A.D.201-219.  gjgj^Qp  Qf  Rome,  and  was  an  opponent  of  the  Millen- 
arian  doctrine,  which  he  ascribes  to  the  heretic  Cerinthus.” 

Hippolytus/^  recently  brought  into  prominent  notice  by  the 
discovery  of  his  Philosophoumena,’’  or  ‘‘Refutation  of  all 
Hippoiytus.  Heresies,’^  is  almost  the  embodiment  of  an  interesting 
A.D.  198-236.  early  Church  history ; having  been  an  earnest 

controversialist,  the  leader  of  an  opposition  party  in  Rome,  and 
a rigorous  censor  of  the  laxity  of  his  times.  As  Bishop  of  the 
Portus  Romanus,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  six  Sees  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  0/  the  city,  he  was  a prominent 
and  perhaps  leading  member  of  that  band  of  suburban  prelates 
called  at  a later  period  cardinales  episcopi,  which  took  the  lead 
in  the  Roman  Presbytery.  At  all  events,  he  appears  as  a chief 
Hostility  somewhat  dreaded  counsellor  of  the  Bishops  Zephyr- 

inus and  Callistus.  To  both  these  he  was  hostile  on 
theological  and  disciplinary  grounds;  accusing  them 
of  Patripassianism  in  doctrine,  and  of  serious  innovations  in  the 
conduct  of  Church  affairs.  . His  testimony  on  this  subject  is 
highly  interesting,  as  showing  the  difficulties  that  involved  the 
leading  Bishops  in  those  times.  On  the  one  side  beset  by  austere 
theorizers,  rigid  in  their  notions  of  discipline  and  keen 
in  doctrinal  disputation,  and  on  the  other  having  to 
maintain  the  Faith  against  plausible  and  subtle  specu- 
lations of  the  most  opposite  descriptions,  they  were  obliged  to 
be  somewhat  slow  and  even  vacillating  in  their  judgment  of  the 
movements  of  the  day.  As  a general  rule,  the  Bishops  of  the 
great  Sees,  and  more  especially  of  Rome,  were  men  of  practical 
and  administrative  talent,  rather  than  of  learning  and  theological 
acumen.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  they  were 
not  always  on  good  terms  with  their  more  scholarly  advisers ; 

" Euseb.  ii.  25  ; iii.  28-31. 

Hippolyti,  Episc.  et  Mart.  Refutat,  Omn.  Hceresiutn,  lib.  ix.;  Bun- 
sen’s Hippolytus. 


to  the 

Roman 

Bishops. 


Pastors 

and 

Doctors. 


S.  Irenceus  and  his  Disciples.  191 

and  that  the  tendency  to  philosophize  on  the  one  side,  and  per- 
haps to  temporize  on  the  other,  should  break  out  occasionally 
into  mutual  distrust. 

As  to  Hippolytus,  he  undoubtedly  theorized  as  far  as  safety 
would  permit.  In  his  dread  of  the  patripassian  error,  he  taught 
a kind  of  subordination  of  the  Son  to  the  Father,  which 

Hts 

gave  a handle  for  the  charge  of  Ditheism,  or  a doctrine  Position 

® ® 1-1  extreme. 

of  two  Gods.  Xhe  charitable  construction,  which 
enables  us  to  acquit  him  of  actual  heresy  in  this  direction,  may 
be  applied  with  equal  force,  perhaps,  to  the  alleged  opposite 
leaning  of  the  party  of  Callistus."^  The  same  reasoning  applies 
to  his  invectives  on  the  relaxation  of  discipline  in  the  Church. 
His  own  notions  on  the  subject  were  austere  and  impracticable, 
suited  only  to  a community  of  philosophers  or  monks.  His 
denunciations,  therefore,  are  valuable,  as  showing  the  com- 
plexity of  the  questions  which  the  Clergy  had  to  solve,  and  the 
bitterness  of  feeling  that  necessarily  arose,  rather  than  for  any 
very  clear  light  they  shed  upon  the  character  or  principles  of 
the  dominant  influence  in  Rome. 

The  peculiar  severity  of  tone,  which  induces  some  to  suspect 
him  of  a leaning  towards  the  Montanists,  or  to  rank  him  with 
the  Novatians  of  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  he  had  His 

in  common  with  the  philosophic  class  to  which  he 
belonged.  Like  his  master  Irenaeus,  he  favored  Chiliasm.  Like 
most  of  the  learned  teachers  of  his  times,  he  made  Gnostic  views 
a matter  of  particular  attention,  and  traced  all  errors  to  one  or 
other  of  the  heathen  philosophic  schools. 


*3  His  Veritatis  Doctrina,  however,  a fine  philosophic  version  of  the 
Creed,  addressed  to  Greeks,  Egyptians,  Chaldeans,  and  all  mankind,  is  enough 
to  vindicate  his  substantial  orthodoxy.  In  it,  the  distinction  between  things 
generated  and  created  is  sharply  drawn.  So  also  the  divinity  of  the  Son. 
Refutat.  Omn.  Hceres.  lib.  x.  32,  et  ss. 

The  doctrine  of  Callistus,  as  stated  by  Hippolytus,  is  undoubtedly 
heretical ; being  the  same  substantially  as  that  ascribed  to  Noetus.  Besides 
which,  the  heretical  sect  of  the  Callistians  seem  to  have  got  their  name  from 
him. 


192  History  of  the  Church. 

It  is  said  that  before  his  death  he  repented  of  the  violence 
of  his  conduct,  and  exhorted  his  followers  to  strive  for 
peace.  He  suffered  martyrdom,  probably  in  Rome, 
during  the  persecution  of  Maximin  the  Thracian. 

» ..  

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  ALEXANDRINE  SCHOOL. 

In  the  constitution  of  the  Episcopate  of  Alexandria  there 
seems  to  have  been  some  departure  from  the  general  practice  of 
the  Church,  the  exact  nature  of  which,  however,  it  is 

Efiscofate.  - . ^ , 

not  easy  to  determine.  The  amplest  account  of  the 
peculiarity  is  given  by  Eutychius,  a Patriarch  of  Alexandria  in 
the  tenth  century. 

‘‘S.  Mark,^'  it  is  said,  ‘‘along  with  Ananias  ordained 
twelve  Presbyters,  to  remain  with  the  Patriarch ; so  that,  when 
, the  chair  should  become  vacant,  they  mis^ht  elect  one 

According  ^ 

ioEuty-  out  of  the  twelve^  on  whose  head  the  other  eleven 

chius. 

should  lay  their  hands,  give  him  benediction,  and  con- 
stitute him  Patriarch.  This  continued  at  Alexandria  till  the 
time  of  the  Patriarch  Alexander  (a.d.  325)  . . . who  forbade 
the  Presbyters  in  future  to  ordain  their  Patriarch,  but  decreed 
that  on  a vacancy  of  the  See  the  neighboring  Bishops  should 
convene  for  the  purpose  of  filling  it  with  a proper  Patriarch, 
whether  elected  from  those  Presbyters^  or  frojii  any  others P 
Eutychius  adds,  that  during  the  time  of  the  first  ten  Patriarchs, 
there  were  no  Bishops  in  the  rest  of  Egyyt ; Demetrius,  the 
eleventh,  having  been  the  first  to  consecrate  them. 

S.  Jerome  gives  substantially  the  same  account ; except  that 
According  be  makes  no  mention  of  ordination  by  the  eleven,  and 
tos.jerome.  cliaiige  of  custom  occurrcd  in  the  times  of 

Heraclas  and  Dionysius. 

* See  Neale’s  Holy  East.  Ch.  Book  I.  J i.  Epistol  ad.  Evangelufn. 


The  Alexandrine  School.  1 93 

In  the  silence  of  contemporaries  on  the  subject,^  and  from 
the  vagueness  as  well  as  lateness  of  the  testimony  given,  oneEx- 
there  is  room  for  the  conjecture  that  Egypt,  instead 
of  being  divided  among  several  local  sees,  was  governed  for 
awhile  by  a college  of  twelve  chief  pastors  residing  in  Alexan- 
dria; the  Bishop  of  that  See  being  at  their  head.  Nothing 
could  be  more  natural  than  such  an  arrangement,  at  the  first 
planting  of  the  Church.  In  later  times,  however,  as  the  Gospel 
extended  into  the  Provinces,  it  would  be  found  inconvenient, 
and  each  important  city  would  desire  a resident  Bishop  of  its 
own.  This  is  the  most  natural  inference,  if  the  language  of 
Eutychius  be  taken  to  the  letter.  For  the  Presbyters  mentioned 
by  him  were  manifestly  Presbyters  who  had  power  to  ordain  ; 
but  Presbyters  ^ with  power  to  ordain  are  the  same  as  Bishops, 
in  the  restricted  sense  of  the  word.  As  S.  Jerome  says,  in  con- 
nection with  this  subject,  What  does  a Bishop  do,  except  ordi- 
nation,  which  a Presbyter  cannot  do? 

This  is  said,  on  the  supposition  that  the  eleven  both  elected 
and  ordained  their  Patriarch.  But  as  that  point  is  not  certain, 
resting  only  on  the  testimony  of  a writer  manifestly  ^ 
inaccurate  in  language  and  living  six  centuries  after  Expiana^ 

tion, 

the  period  of  which  he  speaks,  the  peculiarity  of  the 
Church  of  Alexandria  may  have  been  merely  that  of  electing  a 
Bishop  out  of  a close  corporation  of  twelve  Presbyters,  instead 
of  chopsing  from  the  Church  at  large,  as  was  customary  in  other 
places. 

However  that  may  be,  the  See  of  Alexandria  was  undoubtedly 
a chief  centre  of  Church  life,  its  influence  extending  by  the  end 

3 It  is  fatal  to  the  theory  of  any  radical,  or  even  marked,  change  in  the 
Church  government  of  Egypt,  that  the  period  in  question  is  covered  by  the 
names  of  Origen,  Meletius,  and  others,  who  belonged  to  an  opposition  pai'ty^ 
and  who  certainly  would  have  made  themselves  heard,  if  the  ruling  party 
had  been  guilty  of  any  innovations. 

4 It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  term  Presbyter,  like 
the  term  Priest,  or  Sacerdos,  was  often  used  as  a name  for  the  Ministry  in 
general,  and  therefore  might  be  applied  to  any  order.  2 John,  I ; 3 John,  i ; 
I Peter,  v.  i. 

9 


194 


History  of  the  Church. 

of  the  third  century  over  a hundred  dioceses  in  Egypt,  Penta- 
Demetrius  poHs,  and  Libya.  Till  the  time  of  Demetrius,  however, 
little  is  known  of  its  history  beyond  a list  of  names. 
He,  it  is  said,  was  both  a layman  and  a married  man  at  the  time 
of  his  election,  and  totally  illiterate.  But,  addressing  himself 
zealously  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  he  became  by  diligent 
study  one  of  the  most  learned  prelates  of  his  time  ; and  it  was 
during  his  episcopate  that  Alexandria,  by  the  brilliant  efforts  of 
its  philosophic  teachers  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  the  sterling 
orthodoxy  of  its  clergy  on  the  other,  took  a decided  lead  in 
that  work  of  intellectual  progress  for  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
period  had  begun  to  be  distinguished. 

Considering  the  character  and  position  of  the  city,  it  could 
hardly  have  been  otherwise.  To  Greek  and  Hebrew  alike, ^ 
Centre  of  Alexandria  was  the  seat  of  philosophy  and  learning. 
Learning,  congenial  home  of  Gnostic  and  Platonic 

dreams ; the  centre  of  a liberal  and  spiritual,  though  mystic, 
Judaism.  Heathen  myths  and  Scripture  verities,  by  a process 
of  allegorizing  fanciful  in  some  respects,  but  not  without  a tinc- 
ture of  earnest  religious  feeling,  had  been  blended,  as  it  were, 
in  a richly  colored  though  bewildering  and  deceptive  light.  In 
the  first  century,  Philo  the  learned  Jew  had  flourished  there. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  second  century,  Ammonius  Saccas,  who 
Judaic  had  been  a Christian  and  was  more  or  less  imbued  with 
elements  of  Christian  truth,  opened  a fresh  vein  of 
Wisdom,  ti^ought  in  the  new  Platonic  system.^  Plotinus  and 
others  followed  in  his  steps.  The  school  thus  founded  claimed 

5 The  Alexandrine  Jews  figure  largely  in  that  course  of  Providential 
preparation,  so  wonderfully  ordered,  by  which  the  wall  of  separation  between 
Jews  and  Gentiles  was  secretly  undermined,  and  the  way  was  opened  for  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel.  The  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Greek  was 
one  part  of  their  work  : the  development  of  a liberal  interpretation  was  another. 
In  this  latter  point  Philo  Judseus,  born  about  twenty  years  before  the  Christian 
era,  was  a valuable  instrument.  #His  works  are  accessible  to  the  English 
reader  in  Bohn’s  Eccl.  Library, 

^ Ritter’s  History  of  Ancient  Philosophy ^ Book  XIII. ; Euseb.  vi.  19. 


The  Alexandrine  School. 


195 


to  be  a Religion  as  well  as  a Philosophy.^  It  pretended  to 
intuitions  of  truth,  or  immediate  revelations.  It  admitted  a 
place  for  Christ  as  among  the  greatest  of  teachers  and  theurgists. 
On  the  same  principle  it  did  not  reject,  but  spiritualized  and  so 
labored  to  justify,  the  fables  of  the  Greek  polytheism.  It  even 
endeavored  to  find  a reasonable  and  religious  basis  for  the 
generally  reprobated  but  much  practised  arts  of  magic  and  divin- 
ation. 

It  was  amid  such  influences  that  the  Catechetical  School,® 
founded  by  S.  Mark  and  carried  forward,  it  is  said,  by  the  labors 
of  Athenagorus,^  attained  its  first  celebrity  under  the  Pantcenus, 
auspices  of  the  famous  “Sicilian  bee,*^  the  eclectic  ^.d.  130. 
philosopher  Pantsenus.  Of  him,  however,  little  but  his  distin- 
guished reputation  has  descended  to  our  times.  A deputation 
from  some  part  of  India  having  come  to  Demetrius,  desir- 
ing him  to  send  thither  a teacher  of  Christian  truth.  Mission  to 
Pantaenus  was  deemed  worthy  of  the  mission,  and 
departed  to  that  country.  Tliere  he  found  some  traces  of  the 
labors  of  S.  Bartholomew  the  Apostle,  with  a Hebrew  copy  of 
the  Gospel  of  S.  Matthew.  He  afterwards  returned  to  the 
School  at  Alexandria,  in  the  conduct  of  which  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  better  known  disciple,  S.  Clement. 

To  realize  the  position  of  this  latter,  it  is  necessary  to  remem- 
ber that  the  Catechetical  School  was  an  institution  intended 
rather  for  those  without,  than  for  those  within  the  Catecheu 
Church.  In  its  simplest  form,  S.  Paul  dwelling  at 
Rome  in  his  own  hired  house,  receiving  all  who  came,  preaching 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  speaking  of  things  concerning  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ — or  the  same  Apostle  disputing  daily  at 
Ephesus  in  the  school  of  one  Tyrannus — presents,  on  the  whole, 

7 See  chap.  vi.  of  this  Book. 

^Guericke,  De  Schola,  qucs  olim  Ale x andr , floruit , Catechetica, 

9 Originally  an  Athenian  philosopher.  He  wrote  an  Intercessioti  for  the 
Christians  about  a.d.  177,  in  which  he  defends  them  against  the  charges  of 
atheism,  cannibalism,  and  incest.  Like  most  of  the  philosophic  theologians,  his 
notions  on  many  subjects  were  harsh  and  impracticable. 


196 


History  of  the  Church. 


a just  conception  of  it.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Justin  Martyr, 
who,  when  he  lived  at  Rome,  was  always  to  be  found  in  his  own 
quarters  at  the  Baths  of  Timotheus,  ready  to  give  instruction. 
Ill  the  form  it  subsequently  assumed,  we  see  less  of  the  Gospel 
preacher,  more  of  the  philosophic  talker.  A Christian  man  of 
science,  whether  of  the  Laity  or  Clergy,  held  himself  in  readiness 
to  discourse  upon  all  subjects  connected  with  religion : to  reiiiove 
Lay  difficulties,  to  answer  questions,  to  resolve  doubts,  to 
Teaching,  heathen  mind,  in  short,  for  an  intelligent 

reception  of  the  Gospel.  While  the  School,  therefore,  dealt 
with  high  and  sacred  themes,  it  had  all  the  range  and  freedom 
peculiar  to  lay-teaching.  Its  analogy,  in  modern  times,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  relation  of  the  press  to  the  pulpit  y or  rather,  it 
may  be  said,  of  the  University  to  the  Church. 

Clement,  a convert  from  heathenism  and  a man  of  encyclo- 
paedic learning,  who  had  travelled  in  all  countries,  studied  in 

element  schools,  and  profited  by  all  systems — an  eclectic 

1S9-202.  ^<bee'*  that  sucked  honey  from  every  flower,  but 

found  the  substance  of  their  sweets  in  prophetic  and  apostolic 
meadows” — was  particularly  well  fitted  by  nature  and  edu- 
ijis  catiop  to  carry  out  this  idea.  His  mission  was  to 

Mission.  ^1^^  refined  and  cultivated  heathen.  Not  merely  to 

turn  them  from  idolatry  by  Hortatory  Appeals ; but  to  conduct 
them  affably  and  pleasantly,  with  moral  discourses  on  the  way, 
to  the  school  of  divine  knowledge ; to  hang  that  school,  as  it 
were,  with  embroidered  l^'apestry-work : to  array  Religion  in 
the  many-colored  robes  of  a literature  and  philosophy  intellec- 
tually attractive — seems  to  have  been  the  object  he  had  constantly 
in  view.  Hence,  though  belonging  to  the  priesthood,  he  mixed 
iq)  philosophy  and  religion  to  an  extent  that  exposed  him  to 


Such  seems  to  be  the  idea  of  his  three  works,  which  “ rise  each  upon  the 
other  in  a series  or  sequence,” — in  imitation,  perhaps,  of  the  three  degrees 
of  knowledge  required  by  the  ancient  mystagogues,  the  Logos  Protrepticos^  the 
Pcedagogos^  the  Stromata.  In  this  paragraph  I have  rather  adapted,  than 
translated,  some  of  the  innumerable  types  and  tropes,  with  which  in  the  open- 
ing of  the  Stromata,,  the  cause  of  eclectic  philosophy  is. defended. 


The  Alexandrme  School. 


197 


The  Trtie 
Gnostic. 


much  blame.  His  tabernacle  of  Christian  gnosis  was  too  lav- 
ishly adorned  with  ‘‘the  spoils  of  the  Egyptians.''  The En- 
Israel,  indeed,  might  be  the  enclosed  garden  of  the  uiZ^^dosJd 
Lord,  a sacred  repository  of  choice  and  healing  plants.  Garden. 
But  the  great  Gentile  world  was  his  unenclosed  garden.  The  same 
Hand  created  both.  The  same  Spirit  breathed  in  both.  The  same 
Divine  Word  had  shed  His  light  on  both.  Yet,  as  flowers  and 
weeds,  grapes  and  thorns,  figs  and  thistles,  had  all  grown  promis- 
cuously in  the  Gentile  soil,  the  barren  or  pernicious  concealing 
the  fruitful  tree  from  the  mere  casual  observer : it  followed  that 
the  genuine  Christian  Gnostic  must  be  above  all 
things  an  Eclectic.  His  spiritual  taste  must  be  edu- 
cated. He  must  be  accustomed  to  prove  all  things,  that  he  may 
hold  fast  to  what  is  good.  Clement,  in  short,  saw  no  incompat- 
ibility between  profane  and  sacred  learning.  The  former  was, 
in  some  sense,  the  handmaid  of  the  latter — perhaps  a necessary 
handmaid.  For,  as  Sarah  the  mistress  was  barren,  till  she  had 
borne  a son  to  Abraham  by  Hagar,  her  maid ; so  the  Church, 
relying  on  simple  faith  and  abhorring  the  profane 
touch  of  dialectic,  philosophic,  and  scientific  culture, 
might  find  herself  in  the  position  of  one  who  expects  to  gather 
grapes,  without  being  at  the  pains  to  cultivate  the  vine.” 

With  views  so  perilously  in  advance  of  the  religious  senti- 
ment of  his  times,  and  which  anticipated  the  broadest  modern 
schemes  of  liberal  education,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  ciemenfs 
at  that  Clement's  orthodoxy  has  been,  and  is  still,  an  ^^rors. 
open  question.  That  he  sometimes  used  inaccurate  expressions 
with  regard  to  the  essentials  of  the  Faith,  and  that  in  less  im- 
portant points  he  advanced  many  erroneous  opinions,  is  beyond 
all  doubt.”  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Severian  persecution  he 


Christ  an 
Culture. 


**  Even  the  physical  sciences  are  included  in  Clement’s  curriculum. 
Stromat.  lib.  i. 

*2  Bishop  Bull  defends  his  substantial  orthodoxy.  Among  the  notions 
imputed  to  him  by  Photius,  who  had  a copy  (perhaps  a corrupted  one)  of  his 
Hypotyposesy  now  lost,  was  the  theory  of  several  successive  creations  before 
Adam.  Was  this  an  anticipation  of  modern  geology?  See  Tillemont,  tom. 


I9S 


History  of  the  Church. 


retired  before  the  storm,  and  defended  his  course  in  this  par- 
ticular with  arguments  full  of  good  sense,  but  somewhat  too 
His  elaborate  and  ingenious.  He  has  been  much  censured 
Pseudos,  advocacy  of  the pseudosy  a species  of  reserve’* 

or  white  lie,”  in  dealing  with  unbelievers.  As  a general  rule, 
those  who  advocate  reserve  are  the  least  given  to  it  in  practice. 
Clement  was  hardly  an  exception  to  this  rule.  The  ‘Mies”  he 
had  in  view  were  that  “economy”  which  dispenses  meats  and 
medicines  in  due  measure  and  due  season,  and  not  any  such  de- 
ception as  the  word  taken  to  the  letter  might  imply. his 
system,  however,  human  wisdom  undoubtedly  had  too  high  a 
place  ; and  his  pretensions  to  a gnosis  or  secret  knowledge,  un- 
attainable to  the  vulgar,  savored  too  much  of  the  arrogance  of 
the  Gnostic  and  new  Platonic  schools. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Origen,*^  the  Adamantine,  the  man  of 
iron  soul,  whose  mind  was,  as  the  name  Chalkenteros^^  suggests,  a , 
Origen^  great  thought-factory — a marvel  of  rapid,  easy,  steady, 

A D-  203.  vigorous  operation.  He  dictated  to  seven  amanu- 

enses, and  is  said  to  have  been  the  author  of  at  least  six  thou- 
sand different  works.  He  wrote  more,  says  S.  Jerome,  than 
another  man  could  read.  As  the  demand  for  thoughtful  tracts 
must  have  been  in  some  proportion  to  the  supply,  there  could 
be  no  stronger  testimony  to  the  wonderful  intellectual  activity 

iii.  art.  5.  For  an  exact  account  of  his  teaching,  see  Kaye’s  Clefnent  of 
Alexandria  (John,  Bishop  of  Lincoln),  and  dementis  Alex.  Of.  omnia  Gr. 
et  Lat.  ed.  Potter,  Oxon.  1715. 

*3  See  Blunt’s  Right  Use  of  the  Early  Fathers^  While  Clement’s  mean- 
ing may  be  defended,  his  language,  it  must  be  confessed,  might  be  made  to 
countenance  almost  any  amount  of  fraud  undertaken  with  a pious  end  in 
view.  The  same  is  to  be  said  of  some  of  the  expressions  of  Origen.  See 
notes  to  Gieseler,  \ 63. 

'4  On  the  subject  of  Origen,  Eusebius  is  very  full.  Eccles,  Hist,  See 
also  Huet’s  Oi'igenianay  and  various  other  disquisitions,  appended  or  prefixed 
to  De  la  Rue’s  edition;  Origen,  Op,  Omn,y  etc.,  Paris.  1733.  For  a list  of 
works  on  Origen,  see  Fabricii,  Bibliothec,  Grac.  tom.  vii.  and  Walch,  Biblio- 
thec.  Patristic,  p.  273. 

*5  S.  Jerome  so  calls  him. 


The  Alexandrine  School. 


199 


of  the  times.  In  his  life  he  was  a strict  ascetic.  Going  bare- 
foot at  all  seasons,  owning  but  one  coat,  a vegetarian  in  his  diet, 
and  content  with  such  sleep  as  he  could  obtain  on  a bare  floor, 
he  devoted  his  days  to  teaching,  his  nights  to  prayer  and  study 
of  the  Scriptures.  He  was  but  eighteen  years  of  age 
when  he  began  this  course.  The  persecution,  before  tion  and 

. Heroism, 

which  Clement  retired,  gave  him  occupation  of  a still 
more  honorable  kind.  Many  of  his  disciples  were  among  the 
Martyrs  and  Confessors.  He  visited  them  in  prison,  he  stood 
by  them  before  the  tribunal,  he  comforted  and  encouraged  them 
in  the  final  conflict.  It  was  unfortunate  for  him,  and  for  his 
subsequent  good  name,  that  with  such  unquestionable  zeal  and 
self-devotion  there  was  something  of  the  alloy  of  a 

' Sel/’-will, 

presumptuous  hardihood.  Though  still  a mere  youth 
when  appointed  by  Demetrius  to  the  Catechetical  School,  he 
seems  to  have  taken  counsel  only  of  his  own  heart.  Acting, 
for  example,  on  what  he  afterwards  acknowledged  to  be  a hasty 
interpretation  of  the  language  of  our  Lord  with  regard  to  eu- 
nuchs,*^ he  prepared  many  sorrows  for  himself,  many  scandals 
and  disturbances  for  the  Church  at  large.  He  urged,  by  way 
of  apology  for  this  act,  that  there  were  several  females  in  his 
school — which  exposed  him  to  scandal  and  temptation.  Both 
the  act  and  the  excuse  show  an  undue  influence  of  the  encratite 
spirit  so  prevalent  at  that  time. 

In  such  matters,  Origen  is  the  less  excusable,  in  that  he  was 
a child  of  many  prayers,  and  of  a careful  Christian  nurture. 
One  of  the  tenderest  images  of  all  antiquity  is  that  of  His  Father 
his  father,  Leonides,  rebuking  the  precocity  of  his  ^^^mdes, 
gifted  boy,  but  stealing  to  his  couch  when  he  slept,  that  he 

'^Matt.  xix.  12.  By  his  ill-advised  act,  Origen,  according  to  a wise 
canon  of  the  Church  (see  Apostol.  Canons,  21-24),  disqualified  himself  for 
entering  Holy  Orders.  It  may  be  noticed  here  that  bodily  blemishes  were 
not  made  a bar  to  Holy  Orders  (Apostolic  Canons,  77)  unless  they  were  self- 
inflicted.  A deaf  or  blind  man,  however,  could  not  be  made  Bishop — not 
as  if  he  was  by  this  made  unclean,  but  lest  it  be  an  impediment  to  him  in  the 
duties  of  his  office.” 


200  History  of  the  Church. 

might  kiss  a breast  so  manifestly  a temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
This  excellent  father  was  one  of  the  first  victims  of  the  Severian 
A M t r Origen  would  gladly  have  shared  his 

martyrdom  ; but  his  mother  kept  him  at  home  by  hid- 
ing away  his  clothes.  He  managed,  nevertheless,  to  encourage 
his  father  by  an  admirable  epistle  ; in  which,  referring  to  his 
mother  and  seven  children  about  to  be  left  destitute,*^  he  said  : 
‘‘Father,  be  firm  in  the  Faith,  and  be  not  troubled  on  account 
of  us. ' * 

One  of  the  beneficial  influences  of  that  mixture  of  religious 
and  secular  teaching  which  characterized  the  Alexandrine  School, 
„ . remarkably  appeared  in  the  case  of  Basilides,  one  of 

Potaimcena 

and  other  Origen’s  disciples,  but  still  a heathen  and  an  officer  in 
the  army.  It  fell  to  him,  in  the  course  of  the  perse- 
cution, to  conduct  the  famous  Potamisena  to  her  execution. 
This  noble  virgin,  equally  celebrated  for  her  beauty  and  her 
virtue,  when  all  other  appeals  had  failed  to  daunt  her  courage, 
was  threatened  with  the  horrible  fate  of  being  given  over  to  the 
will  of  the  brutal  gladiators.  To  escape  this  outrage,  she  uttered 
some  word  deemed  sacrilegious  by  the  crowd,  which  brought 
upon  her  the  penalty  of  immediate  death.  Basilides 

Bastlides.  ^ 

led  her  away,  but  showed  his  sympathy  by  protecting 
her  from  the  insults  and  abuses  of  the  mob.  She  promised  him 
her  prayers,  as  a reward  for  his  humanity.  Not  long  after  her 
martyrdom,  Basilides  declared  himself  a Christian  ; and  relating 
to  the  Brethren  how  Potamisena  had  appeared  to  him  three  suc- 
cessive nights,  in  a dream,  and  had  placed  a crown  upon  his 
head,  he  was  duly  received,  baptized,  and  shortly  after  enrolled 
in  the  army  of  the  Martyrs.  With  Potamiaena  suffered  her 

*7  Origen  was  left  in  straitened  circumstances ; but  in  later  life  he  found 
a fast  friend  in  Ambrosius,  a wealthy  layman,  whom  he  reclaimed  from  the 
Valentinian  heresy,  who  not  only  supplied  his  moderate  wants  in  the  way  of 
meat  and  clothing,  but  furnished  hin>  the  means  of  cariying  on  his  stupendous 
intellectual  labors.  During  the  persecution  under  Maximin  (a.d.  235),  he 
had  occasion  to  exhort  this  noble  friend  to  martyrdom  : a wife  and  children, 
and  large  property,  being,  as  he  urged,  only  a greater  reason  for  courage 
and  steadfastness  in  the  faith. 


The  Alexandrine  School. 


201 


mother  Macella.  The  baptism  of  fire  that  they  received  was 
imparted  also  to  Herais,  a female  catechumen,  another  of  Ori- 
gen's  disciples.  The  number  of  young  women  of  high  charac- 
ter who  appreciated  the  teachings  of  this  great  master/®  and 
many  of  whom  were  employed  as  copyists  of  his  works,  is  cred- 
itable to  the  state  of  Christian  society  at  that  period. 

Of  Origen’s  innumerable  intellectual  labors  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  here  that  they  were  in  the  direction  pointed  out  by  his  able 
predecessors.  A disciple  of  Pantaenus  and  of  Clement,  . , 

* . Origens 

a willing  hearer  of  Ammonius  Saccas,  and  full  of  Gi/tand 
genius,  industry,  and  hardy  independence,  he  could 
not  fail  to  exert  a prodigious  influence  upon  the  young  mind  of 
his  times.  His  fame  was  known  in  the  palace,  and  he  corre- 
sponded, it  is  said,  with  the  Emperor  Philip.  Mammaea,  the 
mother  of  Alexander  Severus,  received  lessons  in  Christianity 
from  his  mouth.  An  Arabian  prince  paid  him  a special  visit 
for  the  same  purpose.  He  was  an  object  of  admiration,  also,  to 
the  heathen  philosophers. On  one  occasion,  at  Rome,  when 
he  chanced  to  enter  a hall  where  Plotinus  the  celebrated  Neo- 
Platonist  was  lecturing,  the  latter  rose  from  his  seat  and  declined 
proceeding  before  one  who,  as  he  declared,  knew  more  than  he 
could  tell  him."”  But  his  most  enduring  fame,  and,  as  Gregory 
Thaumaturgus^*  says,  his  ‘‘greatest  gift,*'  was  in  the 
sphere  of  “ an  interpreter  of  the  word  of  God.  He 
searched  with  indefatigable  zeal  for  the  mystical,  the  moral,  and 
the  historic  sense  of  Scripture and  in  each  of  these  depart- 

The  lectures  of  Plotinus  also,  the  famous  Neo-Platonis'  were  attended 
by  many  female  disciples.  See  Porphyr.  Vita,  Plotin. 

*9  Porphyry’s  eulogy  is  quoted  by  Eusebius,  vi.  19. 

Porphyr.  Vit.  Plotin.  This,  however,  may  have  been  another  Origen, 
a heathen  philosopher,  who  was  also  a disciple  of  Ammonius. 

Who  composed  an  Oratio  Panegyrica  in  Origenem,  highly  esteemed 
for  its  glowing  eloquence. 

“ Practically  only  two  senses ; for  the  mystic  sense  was  considered  un- 
attainable or  only  partially  attainable  to  man,  in  the  body : “ even  the  sim- 
plest believers  know  that  there  are  (profound  meanings  under  the  letter  of 
Scripture),  but  what  they  are  men  of  modesty  and  good  sense  confess  them- 

9* 


202 


History  of  the  Church. 

merits  was  sometimes  hurried  by  his  ardor  into  dangerous  ex- 
tremes. By  carefully  distinguishing,  however,  the  three  senses 
from  one  another,  he  did  as  much  for  the  cause  of  grammatical 
interpretation  as  for  the  allegorizing  method  so  popular  among 
the  ancients.  Enough  remains  of  his  labors  to  justify  to  poster- 
The  ity  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held.  But  his  Hexa- 
Hexapia.  ^ polyglott  Bible  in  six  columns,  containing  the 

original  text  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  characters,  with  the  four 
Greek  versions  of  the  Seventy,  of  Aquila,  of  Symmachus,  and 
of  Theodotion,  is,  with  the  exception  of  a few  fragments,  unfor- 
tunately lost. 

Demetrius,  the  earnest  and  sober-minded  Pastor  of  the 
Alexandrine  Church,  during  whose  episcopate  this  brilliant  con- 
^ ^ stellation  of  teachers  appeared  in  the  theological 

and  heavens,  must  have  watched  its  rise  and  culmination 

Demetrius.  t i -i  • i 

With  no  little  interest,  and,  perhaps,  not  without  a 
shade  of  serious  misgiving.  However  that  may  be,  he  for  a 
long  time  acted  with  a liberality  seldom  witnessed  in  such  cir- 
cumstances among  men  of  his  character  and  position.  Why  he 

selves  ignorant.’^  Origen  cites  particularly  the  story  of  Lot  and  his  daughters, 
Abraham  and  his  two  wives,  the  two  sisters  that  Jacob  married,  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  tabernacle,  etc.,  etc. ; in  which  he  says,  every  one  can  see  some 
type  or  figure,  though  he  who  imagines  he  has  found  the  absolute  and  fixed 
meaning  is  apt  to  be  mistaken.  The  three  senses  were  in  reference  to  the 
common  notion  of  the  threefoldness  of  man:  the  body  (literal  or  historic 
sense) — the  soul  (moral  sense) — the  spirit  (mystic  sense).  In  some  parts  of 
SS.  only  one,  in  some  two,  and  in  some  the  three  senses  may  be  found.  The 
most  objectionable  part  of  Origen’s  interpretation  was,  that,  in  his  eagerness 
to  show  the  necessity  of  the  allegorizing  process,  he  made  many  difficulties  in 
Scripture  which  do  not  exist.  The  cases  in  which  the  mystic  interpretation  is 
allowable,  according  to  Origen,  are : ( i ) the  various  details  of  the  cere- 
monial laws;  (2)  all  that  is  said  about  Jerusalem,  Egypt,  Babylon,  Tyre,  and 
other  type-cities  or  type-names ; (3)  when  the  letter  of  Scripture  is  seemingly 
trivial,  self-contradictory,  or  (like  the  Song  of  Solomon)  capable  of  perver- 
sion and  misinterpretation.  On  the  perspective  character  of  the  language  of 
the  Old  Testament,  see  Lee,  on  Inspiration^  etc.,  Lect.  iii.  See  also  Peter 
Daniel  Huet’s  Origeniana.  Gieseler,  Ch.  Hist.  J 63,  gives  Origen  full  credit 
for  his  services  to  grammatical  interpretation.  So  also  Neander,  Ch.  Hist.  \ v. 


The  Alexandrine  School. 


203 


at  length  departed  from  this  course  has  been  variously  con- 
jectured. Some  ascribe  it  to  envy  of  Origen’s  growing  reputa- 
tion.Such  motives  are  easy  to  impute,  and  to  some  minds 
easy  to  believe.  They  are  difficult  to  prove,  however,  even 
with  the  advantage  of  personal  or  contemporaneous  knowledge. 
Without  entering,  therefore,  into  questions  of  this  kind,  it  is 
enough  to  notice  the  fact,  that  Origen’s  latter  days  were  clouded 
by  a bitter  contention  with  his  Bishop,  and  with  the  Church  of 
his  native  city. 

The  quarrel  began  during  a visit  of  Origen  to  Palestine, 
where,  on  the  invitation  of  Alexander  of  Jerusalem,  one  of  his 
disciples,  and  Theoctistus  of  Ccesarea,  he  preached  in  Beginning 
the  churches  of  those  prelates.  Demetrius  remon-  quCI^i 
strated  against  this,  and  Origen  was  summoned  home. 

About  thirteen  years  after,  being  invited  into  Greece,  to  assist 
in  the  refutation  of  certain  heresies  which  had  there  obtained  a 
footing,  he  procured  letters  commendatory  from  Demetrius  and 
repaired  to  that  country.  Thence,  under  the  sanction  of  the 
same  letters,  he  passed  into  Palestine,  where,  without  consulta- 
tion or  further  communication  with  his  Bishop,  he  was  ordained 
to  the  priesthood.  Demetrius  objected  to  this  as  a violation  of 
the  canons.  An  angry  correspondence  followed.  The  Cate- 
chist was  refractory ; the  Bishop  uncompromising.  The  former 
was  defended  by  the  clergy  of  Palestine.  The  latter,  supported 
by  two  councils  of  the  Alexandrine  Church,  issued  a sentence 
of  deposition  and  excommunication  against  Origen, 
on  the  ground  of  his  false  teachings  and  violations  of  Condemned, 

t • 1 • 1 1 1 A.D.23I,  232. 

the  canons;  an  act  m which  the  Roman  Church  con- 
curred, though  Palestine,  Arabia,  Phenicia,  and  Achaia  strenu- 
ously opposed  it.  Undeterred  by  this,  Origen  continued  his 
stupendous  labors  in  Caesarea,  in  Greece,  in  Arabia,  where  he 


Eusebius,  in  his  extreme  partiality  for  Origen  and  the  Palestine  Bishops, 
is  manifestly  harsh  in  his  judgment  of  Demetrius.  M^ny  modern  writers, 
though  aware  that  such  acts  and  opinions  as  those  of  Origen  would  have  con- 
demned him  in  the  eyes  of  any  Christian  body  that  ever  existed,  are  equally 
severe  upon  the  action  of  the  Alexandrine  Church. 


204 


History  of  the  Church. 

confuted  and  converted  the  heretic  Beryllus,  and  in  other 
places,  with  great  acceptance  and  great  usefulness  to  his  numer- 
ous admirers.  Afterwards,  under  the  episcopate  of  Dionysius, 
the  sentence  against  him  seems  to  have  been  remitted,  or  at 
least  forgotten. He  was  finally  a confessor  in  the  Decian  per- 
secution, and  died  shortly  after  in  the  city  of  Tyre. 

Apart  from  the  personalities  involved  in  this  controversy, 
there  is  much  meaning  in  the  course  pursued  by  the  Church  of 
Alexandria  at  so  critical  a period.  On  the  surface,  it 

Meaning 

of  the  ^ may  have  been  a mere  quarrel  between  two  leading 
Churchmen.  At  bottom,  it  was  one  important  phase 
of  a conflict  ever  going  on  between  the  conservative  instinct 
and  the  spirit  of  progress.®^  Origen  was  a Philosopher,  Deme- 
trius a Pastor.  The  former  was  large-minded  and  theoretic,  the 
latter  was  practical  and  perhaps  narrow-minded.  Both  of 
these  classes  have  their  uses  in  the  world,  but  it  seldom  happens 
that  they  thoroughly  and  cordially  understand  one  another.  In 
the  times  of  Origen,  especially,  the  philosopher’s  cloak  was 
still  a novelty  in  the  Church,  and  in  the  eyes  of  sober  shepherds 
had  much  of  the  wolf-skin  about  it.  Demetrius,  doubtless,  was 
open  to  misgivings  on  this  score.  So  long,  however,  as  Origen 
taught  merely  in  the  character  of  a religious  and  philosophic 
layman,  the  prudent  Bishop  might  very  properly  refrain  from 
Reason  ^.ny  hasty  interference.  In  the  same  way,  so  long  as 
for  tL  Origen  did  not  seek  to  be  admitted  to  the  priesthood, 
there  was  no  occasion  for  any  public  censure  of  the  injudicious 
act  by  which  he  had  become  canonically  disqualified  for  the 
office.  But  it  was  a different  case  when  his  conduct  and"  his 
teaching  were  to  be  authorized,  as  it  were,  by  the  seal  of  Holy 

See  Huet’s  Origenianay  lib.  i.  iii.  lo. 

*5  Book  III.  ch.  3. 

^ Neander  says,  “ The  outward  cause  of  the  controversy  was  the  hier- 
archical jealousy  of  Demetrius ; but  the  real  ground  lay  deeper,  and  outward 
circumstances  only  served  to  bring  that  hidden  cause  into  public  notice,  which 
was  the  contrariety  between  Origen’s  Gnostic  tendency  and  the  anti-Gnostic.’^ 
Hist,  of  Christian  Dogmas. 


The  Alexandrine  School. 


205 


Orders.  Then  it  became  a matter  of  indispensable  necessity  to 
look  more  closely  into  the  character  of  the  influence  he  was  so 
widely  and  powerfully  exerting. 

Accordingly  this  was  done.  Many  of  his  views  were  right- 
eously condemned. The  Alexandrine  School  was  Heresy 
arrested  in  a course/^  which,  without  some  such  check,  ^^^^sted. 
might  have  made  it  a mere  nest  of  heretical  speculations. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Churches  of  Palestine,  where 
Origen  was  so  warmly  encouraged,  the  way  was  opened  for 
habits  of  mind  which  led  in  the  fourth  century  to  , ^ 

Injluence 

Arian  sympathies.  His  successors  in  the  Catechetical  in  other 

Quarters, 

School  were  Heraclas  and  Dionysius,  both  in  course 
of  time  Bishops  of  Alexandria ; and,  towards  the  end  of  the 
century,  Pierius  and  Theognostus.  Theodorus,  afterwards 
called  Gregory  the  Wonder-worker,  Bishop  of  Neocsesarea  in 
Pontus ; his  brother  Athenodorus ; Pamphilus,  a learned  Pres- 
byter of  Caesarea  in  Palestine,  whose  name  was  adopted  by 
Eusebius,  the  Church  historian  ; Firmilianus,  the  distinguished 
and  able  Bishop  of  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia ; and  Julius  Afri- 
canus,  one  of  the  earliest  of  Christian  chronographers,  were 
among  his  disciples  or  intimate  friends.  The  character  of  such 

*7  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  our  judgment  of  Origen^s  orthodoxy,  but 
deservedly  weighs  much  in  our  estimate  of  his  Christian  character,  that  he 
was  singularly  modest  in  the  expression  of  his  views.  For  this  he  is  much 
praised  by  Huet  and  others. 

28  As  it  was,  Clement  and  Origen  helped  to  give  a spiritualistic  tone  to 
Alexandrine  Theology.  This  was  shown  (i)  in  freedom  of  speculation 
(against,  or  beyond  Scripture)  on  such  subjects  as  an  endless  series  of  worlds, 
final  salvation  or  at  least  salvability  of  the  damned,  ethereal  character  of  the 
risen  body,  etc.,  etc. ; (2)  in  the  emphasis  laid  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos, 
and  in  dangerous  theories  in  relation  to  that  doctrine;  (3)  in  placing  all 
virtue  and  perfection  in  gnosis,  a sort  of  dispassionate  contemplation ; (4)  in 
affirming  intellectual  sins  to  be  worse  than  moral,  etc.  The  Chiliast,  and 
other  sensuous  heresies,  founded  on  a too  close  following  of  the  letter  of  the 
Scriptures,  were  little  favored  in  Alexandria.  See  Neander,  History  of 
Church  Dogmas,  and  Gieseler,  Church  History,  \ 63.  As  Origen’s  mind  was 
many-sided,  his  writings  also  contributed  to  the  rationalistic  bias  which  after- 
wards showed  itself  in  Palestine  and  Syria. 


2o6  History  of  the  Church. 

men  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  essential  soundness  of  their 
teacher.  It  is  a better  argument,  however,  for  the  general 
soundness  and  conservative  and  restraining  influence  of  the 
common-sense  of  the  Church.  Origen,  in  fact,  both  in  his 
faults  and  in  his  merits,  was  considerably  in  advance  of  the 
In  advance  times  in  wliich  he  lived.  Opposition  to  his  teachings 
of  the  Age.  precipitated  somewhat  by  his  imprudences  of  con- 

duct. Yet  it  hardly  began  fairly  till  the  end  of  the  third 
century,  when  Methodius,  Bishop  of  Tyre,  an  eloquent  but  not 
very  judicious  writer, opened  a controversy  that  has  continued 
at  intervals  to  be  revived  with  more  or  less  bitterness,  down  to 
the  present  day. 

=9  He  was  a martyr  in  the  Dioclesian  persecution,  A.D.  31 1.  His  princi- 
pal work  is  a eulogium  on  Virginity,  in  dialogue  form,  entitled  “ Banquet  of 
Ten  Virgins,’^  some  fragments  of  which  remain  in  Epiphanius  and  Photius. 
Eusebius  (possibly  out  of  partiality  for  Origen)  makes  no  mention  of  him. 


BOOK  III 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  CHURCHES 

AND 

FIRST  TRIUMPH  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


A.D.  200-324. 


Sook  III. 


CHAPTER  I. 

NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH. 

The  African  Church,  a name  not  including  Egypt,  Cyrene,  or 
any  of  the  dependencies  of  the  See  of  Alexandria,  had  in  the 
course  of  the  second  century  extended  the  influence  North 
of  the  Gospel  over  two  of  the  three  great  provinces  of  ’Africa, 
Northern  Africa.*  Its  territorial  limits  embraced  ultimately 
Africa  Proconsularis,  Numidia,  and  Mauritania.  In  these  were 
some  three  thousand  towns  and  villages,  with  a mixed  popula- 
tion of  Romans,  Greeks,  Jews,  and  Africans  both  of  Punic  and 
indigenous  race. 

It  was  a vast  and  fertile  region,  rich  in  commercial  and 
agricultural  resources,  stocked  with  innumerable  slaves,®  and 
haunted  at  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era  by 

Character 

a prolific  brood  of  abominable  superstitions.  In  this  of  the 

respect  it  was,  even  more  than  Rome  or  Alexandria,  a 

sink  of  the  whole  world. ^ Each  race  which  had  settled  in  the 

' Munteri,  Primordia  Eccles.  African,  See  also  Schelstrate,  Eccles, 
Afric.;  and  Morcelli,  Africa  Christiana, 

* Apuleius  mentions  that  there  were  four  hundred  slaves  on  a portion  of 
his  wife’s  property.  Apuleii,  Apolog.  p.  333.  Elmenh. 

3 In  Afris  pene  omnibus,  nescio  quid  non  malum  , . . inhumani , , . 
ebriosi  , , , fallacissimi  , , , fraudulentissimi  , , , cupidissimi  , , , per- 
fidissimi  , , , quis  nescit,  Africam  totam  obscoenis  libidinum  taedis  semper 


210 


History  of  the  Ch%rch. 

country  had  brought  in  with  it  its  own  peculiar  rites ; and  each 
imported  rite  the  prurient  imagination  of  Africa  had  invested 
with  new  horrors.  Human  victims  were  sacrificed  to  Baal, 
under  the  Roman  name  of  Saturn.  Maidens  were  devoted, 
Superstu  amid  lewd  songs  and  games  and  lascivious  rites,  to  the 
tions.  Vesta  Meretricum^  the  Syrian  Astarte.  Magical  rites, 
divination,  necromancy,  fetish-worship,  had  of  course  grown 
apace  in  so  rank  a soil.  Nor  were  the  morals  of  the  people 
better  than  their  religion.  Cruelty,  treachery,  and  lust  were 
national  characteristics.  A fanatical  self-devotion,  blood-thirsty, 
gloomy,  insatiable  in  its  greed  for  horrors,  swayed  the  soul  alter- 
nately with  a frivolity  hardly  more  human.  So  that,  notwith- 
standing the  strong  bridle  of  Roman  law,  and  the  so-called 
civilizing  influences  of  baths,  theatres,  and  temples,  the  Cross, 
it  is  likely,  was  never  set  up  on  more  unpromising  ground. 

Who  the  first  Evangelists  were,  and  whence  they  came,  is  a 
question  involved  in  no  little  obscurity.  There  is  a confused 

^ tradition  of  Pentecostal  voices,  sounding  their  glad 
Evan-  tidings  along  the  coast,  or  even  in  the  interior ; and 

gelizedt 

a vague  rumor  connects  this  early  preaching  with  the 
names  of  Simon  of  Cyrene,  Simon  Zelotes,  or,  as  some  would 
have  it,  Simon  Peter  himself.  Such  traditions  in  themselves 
are  of  little  value.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  some 
straggling  rays  of  the  great  Pentecostal  light  had  visited  the 
Jews  in  this,  as  in  all  other  parts  of  the  Roman  world ; and  a 
few  believers,  gathered  as  in  other  places  from  among  them  or 
their  proselytes,  may  have  formed  a connecting  link  between 
Africa  and  the  matrix  retigionis,  the  Mother  Church  at  Jerusa- 
lem. 

However  this  may  be,  the  African  Church  could  lay  no  claim 
Church  to  a strictly  Apostolic  origin.  The  Carthaginian  fleet 
lished,  that  sailed  annually  to  Rome  with  a supply  of  corn, 
returned  some  time  about  the  beginning  of  the  second  century 

arsisse  ? non  ut  terram  ac  sedem  hominum,  sed  ut  ^tnam  putes  impudicarum 
fuisse  flammarum,  etc.,  etc.  Salvian.  De  Provident,  lib.  vii.  For  much  more 
to  the  same  effect,  see  that  very  satisfactory  book,  Morcelli,  Afric,  Christian. 


2II 


Nort/z  African  Church. 

with  a more  precious  freight ; and  Roman  missionaries  estab- 
lished an  Episcopal  See  at  Carthage. 

As  the  African  Church  was  thus  among  the  latest  to  begin  its 
course,  Carthage  being  almost  the  only  important  See  to  which 
the  phrase  sine  charta  et  atramento^  could  not  be  ap-  us  special 
plied:  so  its  career  was  in  many  respects  the  most  interest, 
rapid  and  most  brilliant.  It  gave  to  the  world  a Tertullian,  a 
Cyprian,  and  an  Augustine,  the  three  principal  teachers  of  West- 
ern Christianity;  and  among  minor  writers,  Minucius  Felix, 
Arnobius,  and  Lactantius.  A still  greater  interest  attaches  to 
its  history  from  the  fact  that  the  ante-Nicene  period  covers  both 
its  rise  and  the  commencement  of  its  decline.  For  though  it 
afterwards  continued  to  exist,  and  to  exert  a certain  influence 
till  the  time  of  the  Mohammedan  invasion,  yet  its  latter  years, 
oppressed  by  a foreign  yoke  and  embittered  by  barbarous  dis- 
sensions, exhibited  little  more  than  the  melancholy  symptoms 
of  a slow  but  inevitable  decay.  This  Church,  then,  as  being 
not  a planting  merely,  but  as  it  were  a ripened  fruit  of  the  first 
age  of  Christianity,  seems  to  merit  a larger  space  in  this  section 
of  our  history  than  can  be  accorded  to  others,  whose  importance, 
though  eventually  much  greater,  was  of  somewhat  later  date. 

Of  its  growth  during  the  second  century  little  is  positively 
known.  About  the  end  of  that  period  it  comes  suddenly  into 
light : strong  in  faith,  as  witnessed  by  the  martyrdom 

It  , ^ . • t n • . Growth, 

of  the  Scillitans  in  the  Severian  persecution;  strong 
in  numbers  and  organization,  for  at  a council  holden  in  Car- 
thage, under  Agrippinus,  the  Primate  of  North  Africa, 

1 . A.D.  215. 

as  many  as  seventy  Bishops  were  present,  representing 

the  two  Provinces  of  Africa  Proconsularis  and  Numidia.  It 

4 The  phrase  is  applied  by  S.  Irenseus  to  barbarous  nations,  which  had  to 
receive  the  Truth  orally,  before  they  could  be  taught  to  read  the  Scriptures. 
Carthage  received  the  Truth  and  the  Scriptures  simultaneously;  which  may 
account  for  the  disposition  among  the  Africans  to  use  Scripture  and  tradition 
as  synonymous  terms.  It  also  explains  why,  when  looking  for  customs  or 
traditions  not  contained  in  Scripture,  they  turned  to  Rome,  as  auctoritas 
prcesto — a witness  close  at  hand. 


212 


History  of  the  Churchy 

was  in  this  Council  that  all  baptisms  administered  by  heretics 
were  declared  invalid.  A little  later  the  same  stand 

A.D.  230. 

was  taken  by  many  Churches  in  the  East,  especially  in 
the  great  Council  of  Iconium. 

The  Scillitan  martyrs  were  among  the  first  who  suffered  for 
the  Faith  in  North  Africa.  To  the  simplicity  of  their  religion, 
which  they  pleaded  and  labored  to  commend  to  the 

Scillitan  ^ ^ 

Martyrs^  Proconsul  Satuminus,  he  opposed  what  he  regarded  as 

202*  , 

a still  more  simple  creed. ^ Swear, says  he,  ‘^by 
the  genius  of  the  Emperor.’*  He  seems  to  have  been  somewhat 
anxious  to  save  them,  if  he  could,  from  the  extreme  penalty  of 
the  law ; and  offered  them  for  this  purpose  a respite  of  thirty 
days.  The  Scillitans,  however,  knew  no  path  but  the  straight 
one.  Honor,”  they  said,  they  were  always  ready  to  give  to 
the  Emperor:  but  honor  with  prayer  belonged  to  God  only.” 
They  were  sent  back  to  prison  to  reconsider  their  resolve.  But 
firm  against  the  threats  and  deaf  to  the  suggestions  of  the  good- 
natured  magistrate,  twelve  persons  in  all,  nine  men  and  three 
women,  were  beheaded ; giving  thanks  to  God  for  His  grace  in 
allowing  them  to  be  enrolled  in  the  glorious  army  of  His  mar- 
tyrs. The  kind  of  punishment  inflicted  in  this  case  is  an  indi- 
cation that  the  Scillitan  witnesses,  and  perhaps  the  majority  of 
believers  in  that  region,  belonged  to  the  Latin  part  of  the  North 
African  population. 

The  persecution  of  the  Christians,  though  commenced  under 
a certain  show  of  law,  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  excited 
Heathen  populace,  and  was  marked  by  all  the  usual  features  of 
Cruelties,  di^bolical  cruelty  and  malice.  The  Christians  were 
accused  of  incredible  abominations.  Their  assemblies  were 
represented  to  be  the  scenes  of  such  orgies  as  heathenism  un- 
happily had  made  familiar  to  men’s  minds,  though  in  a purer 
state  of  society  they  could  hardly  have  been  imagined.  The 
punishments  were  in  keeping  with  the  imputed  crimes.  By  a 
refinement  of  barbarism,  not  unknown  elsewhere,  but  which 

^ Acta  Proconsularia  Martyrum  Scillitanorum  ; Baronius,  Annul,  ann. 
ccii. ; given  also  in  Munteri,  Primordia. 


North  African  Church.  2 1 3 

seems  to  have  originated  in  Africa,  Christian  virgins,  whom  the 
cry  ad  leones  could  not  daunt,  were  condemned  to  the  vile  service 
of  the  infamous  lenones,^  Such  outrages  were  naturally  regarded 
as  signs  of  Antichrist.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  signs  0/ 
that  they  engendered  in  some  minds  a gloomy,  or  at 
all  events  visionary,  temper,  alien  to  the  spirit  of  sober  and  true 
religion. 

Many  circumstances  conspired  to  foster  such  a spirit,  both 
among  the  Christians  and  among  their  idolatrous  and  savage 
persecutors.  The  first  blood  shed  had  been  followed  Enthu^ 
by  floods,  tempests,  meteors,  subterranean  thunders,  ^lasm. 
and  an  extraordinary  eclipse  of  the  sun.  By  portents  of  this 
kind  a fanatical  temper  was  excited  among  the  heathen,  who 
attributed  all  calamities  to  the  anger  of  their  gods  insulted  by 
the  Christians.  On  the  other  hand,  the  common  Christian  hope 
of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  was  more  vivid  in  times  of  peril,  and 
sometimes  degenerated  into  a morbid  superstition.  In  a healthy 
state  of  mind,  believers  always  prayed  for  the  safety  of  Prayerpro 
the  Empire,  and  pro  mora  finis  : for  a longer  continu- 
ance,  that  is,  of  the  world's  season  of  repentance.  It  was  a 
symptom  of  a dangerous  enthusiasm,  when  to  some,  in  their 
confident  and  exultant  expectation  of  the  end,  this  charitable 
prayer  became  unmeaning  or  distasteful. ^ 

From  causes  of  this  kind  the  enthusiasm  of  Montanus,  already 
rife  in  many  portions  of  the  West,  and  naturally  suited  to  the 
sensuous  temper  of  the  African  and  Africo-Roman  Sensuous 
mind,  found  in  Carthage  and  its  dependencies  a soil 
peculiarly  fitted  for  its  reception.  This  may  be  seen  to  some 

® Tertullian  mentions  such  a case  in  the  last  chapter  of  his  ApoiogeL 
Cyprian  alludes  to  it  as  a custom : “ Virgines,  venientis  Antichristi  minas,  et 
corruptelas,  et  lupinaria,  non  timentes.”  De  Mortal.  In  the  later  persecu- 
tions such  cases  became  quite  common. 

7 Montanistic  Tertullian,  finds  fault  with  some,  because  protractum 
quenciam  scectilo  postulant^  cum  regnum.  Dei,  quod  ut  adveniat  oramus,  ad 
consummationem  soeculi  tendat.”  De  Oral.  5.  See  also  that  fearful  outburst 
s©  often  cited  against  the  early  Church  [De  Speciactilis,  c.  30),  “ Quale  spec- 
taculum,”  etc. 


214 


History  of  the  Church. 


Perfetua. 


Trials, 


extent,  even  in  that  noble  sample  of  the  records  of  martyrdom, 
the  Passion  of  S.  Felicitas  and  S.  Perpetua. 

Perpetua,  a young  matron  of  high  social  advantages,  about 
twenty  years  of  age  at  the  time  when  she  was  called  to  suffer  for 
the  testimony  of  Christ,  had  an  infant  at  her  breast. 
She  was  obliged  to  withstand,  moreover,  the  passionate 
threats  and  entreaties  of  a doting  father.  She  pointed  the  latter, 
with  a somewhat  provoking  calmness,  to  a pitcher  in 
the  cell.  Father, she  asked,  what  do  you  call  that 
vessel?  A pitcher,’^  he  replied.  But  can  you  say  that  it 
is  not  a pitcher  ? ’ ’ ‘ ^ Of  course, ' ' said  he,  ^ ‘ I can  not.  * * ‘ ‘ Then 

it  is  equally  impossible  for  me  to  say  that  I am  not  a Christian.^* 
The  old  man  left  her  in  a fit  of  impotent  rage  and  frenzy.  At 
another  time,  when  he  came  in  ‘‘to  cast  her  down,”  and  in  tears 
addressed  her  “not  as  daughter  but  as  lady,”  she  was  deeply 
Grief  of  grieved  because  of  his  gray  hairs,  and  “ because  he  was 
her  Father.  one  of  her  family  that  did  not  rejoice  at  her 

affliction;”  and  she  comforted  him,  saying:  “Nothing  can 
happen  at  the  tribunal,  but  what  God  wills ; for  know  that  we 
are  not  in  our  own  power,  but  in  the  hand  of  God.”  He  with- 
drew from  her,  however,  overwhelmed  with  sorrow. 

A few  days  after  the  first  interview,  the  prisoners  were  bap- 
tized. On  that  occasion  Perpetua  was  inspired  to  ask  nothing 
Baptism  of  God  but  the  grace  of  bodily  endurance.  Still,  the 
tnjati.  gloom  and  stifling  heat  of  the  jail  were  almost  insup- 
portable ; and  she  was  pining  with  anxiety  for  her  half-famished 
babe.  The  Deacons  managed  to  get  them  a few  hours  of  recre- 
ation out  of  doors.  The  infant  was  allowed  to  stay  in  prison 
with  its  mother.  When  she  was  relieved  of  this  subject  of 
anxiety,  “the  prison  immediately  became  to  her  a Pretorian 
palace  ; so  that  she  would  rather  have  been  there  than  in  any 
other  place.” 

Felicitas,  a slave,  was  great  with  child.  As  the  law  forbade 
one  in  this  condition  to  be  put  to  death,  she  was  dread- 
fully afraid  that  she  might  not  be  allowed  to  share  th^ 
martyrdom  of  her  companions.  But  she  was  delivered  in  prison 


Felicitas, 


215 


North  African  Church. 

before  her  time,  and  was  thenceforth  full  of  joy.  As  she  had 
exhibited  anything  but  fortitude  when  taken  with  the  pains  of 
travail,  one  of  the  jailors  said  to  her:  ^‘If  you  make  such  an 
ado  now,  what  will  become  of  you,  I pray,  when  thrown  to 
the  wild  beasts?  She  answered  : It  is  I who  suffer  now ; at 
that  time  Another  shall  be  in  me,  who  will  suffer  for  me,  as  I for 
Him.’^  Some  good-hearted  Christian  woman  adopted  the  little 
innocent  thus  brought  into  the  world. 

The  captives  found  favor  with  their  jailors,  and  were  visited 
by  crowds  of  sympathizing  friends.  Blessed  Deacons  ministered 
to  their  wants.  Doctors  deemed  it  an  honor  to  fall 

Dreams 

down  at  their  feet.  They  were  cheered,  moreover,  by 

Visions, 

ecstasies  and  visions.  The  celestial  ladder,  with  a great 
dragon  at  its  foot,  and  bristling  on  either  side  with  swords  and 
knives  and  hooks,  led  Perpetua  to  a garden,  wherein  sat  the  good 
Shepherd  milking  his  ewes.  Myriads  robed  in  white  were  stand- 
ing in  shining  robes  about  Him.  ^‘Welcome,  child,*’  was  His 
address  to  Perpetua,  as  He  gave  her  a bit  of  cheese.®  She  re- 
ceived the  gift  with  joined  hands ; the  bystanders  responded  with 
a loud  ^^Amen ; ” by  all  which  she  understood  that  the  end  was 
rapidly  approaching,  and  cheerfully  put  aside  all  thoughts  of  the 
present  life.  In  another  dream.  Dinocrates,  her  young  brother, 
who  had  perished  of  a cancer  at  the  age  of  nine  years,  was  de- 
livered by  her  prayers^  from  the  place  of  torment  where  she  saw 
him. 

® This  seems  to  indicate  a sympathy  with  some  of  the  Montanist  notions. 
See  Gieseler,  \ 59,  note  9.  The  peculiarity  of  the  Artotyrites,  who  attached 
a mystic  meaning  to  bread  and  cheese,  may  have  existed  before  a sect  was 
formed  on  those  peculiarities. 

9 On  the  efficacy  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  there  were  not  precise  notions, 
even  among  the  more  learned  Christians.  Among  ordinary  believers,  it  is 
likely,  there  were  very  loose  views.  The  only  prayers  of  the  kind  ordinarily 
sanctioned,  however,  were  pro  dormitione ; e.  g.,  “ A wife,”  according  to 
Tertullian,  should  “ pray  for  the  soul  of  her  deceased  husband,  that  the  twain 
may  be  reunited  at  the  first  resurrection  (the  millennium),  and  that  in  the 
meantime  he  may  have  refrigeriunV' — a quiet  and  refreshing  rest:  ad 
Uxor,  See  Abp.  Usher,  Ans.  to  Chall.  of  a fesuit,  c.  7. 


2I6 


History  of  the  Church. 

In  other  visions  the  disorders  of  the  times  were  unsparingly 
rebuked.  The  loquacity  of  the  Africans,  gathering  noisily 
^ ^ ^ around  their  Bishop,  was  compared  to  the  wrangling 
of  a crowd  of  heathen  just  coming  out  of  the  circus. 
The  day  before  the  execution,  the  prisoners  were  allowed  a free 
banquet ; an  indulgence  usually  granted  to  persons  condemned 
to  death.  They  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity,  to  cele- 
brate the  Agape  or  feast  of  love.  The  crowd,  who  gathered 
around  from  motives  of  curiosity,  were  commanded  to  take 
good  note  of  the  features  of  the  victims,  that  they  might  be 
sure  to  recognize  them  at  the  Day  of  Judgment.  Some  were 
exasperated  at  these  appeals.  Upon  others  the  evident  sincerity 
of  the  confessors  was  not  without  effect. 

When  the  final  conflict  came,  the  better  feelings  of  the 
crowd  so  far  prevailed  as  to  spare  the  martyrs  the  profanation 
Final  of  appearing  in  the  robes  of  Ceres  and  of  Saturn, 

Conflict,  ^vhich  it  had  been  intended  they  should  wear.  ‘^To 
preserve  our  liberty,*^  said  Perpetua,  ‘‘we  freely  give  our  lives. 
See  ye  to  it  that  the  bargain  be  not  broken.^*  The  populace 
admitted  the  justice  of  the  appeal.  In  a less  commendable 
spirit,  some  of  the  male  confessors  addressed  the  spectators, 
and  especially  Hilarian,  the  Proconsul,  with  threatening  looks 
and  gestures  ; for  which  they  were  ordered  to  be  scourged.  But 
it  added  to  their  joy,  that  their  sufferings  were  thus  made  to 
conform  more  nearly  to  the  Passion  of  the  Lord.  Finally,  each 
Answer  to  Underwent  the  death  he  had  had  the  grace  to  pray  for. 
Prayer,  Satuminus,  according  to  a desire  he  had  more  than  once 
expressed,  was  exposed  to  the  fury  of  all  the  wild  beasts.  Satu- 
rus  had  a particular  horror  of  a bear,  and  the  bear  to  which  he 
was  thrown  refused  to  come  near  him.  He  was  at  last  attacked 
by  a leopard  ; and  as  the  blood  gushed  out,  the  populace  shouted 
in  derision  of  the  Christian  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  martyrdom, 
Saivum  Salvum  lotum^  salvum  lotum  : he  who  was  thus  baptized 
j.otuvt.  being  regarded  as  sure  of  his  own  salvation.  The 
women,  in  consequence  perhaps  of  the  popular  exasperation 
which  the  men  had  somewhat  needlessly  provoked,  were  di- 


North  African  Church.  217 

vested  of  all  their  clothing,  and  hung  up  in  nets  to  be  tossed  by 
wild  cows.  But  at  the  sight  of  them  in  this  condition,  the 
crowd  once  more  relented.  They  were  allowed  to  clothe  them- 
selves. Perpetua,  surviving  the  first  attack  of  the  infuriated  an- 
imal, was  conscious  enough  to  draw  her  robe  over  the  parts  of 
her  person  exposed,  and  to  bind  up  her  hair ; but  seemed  other- 
wise as  one  just  awaking  from  a dream.  When  told  what  she  had 
suffered,  she  said  to  her  brother  and  to  a certain  catechumen : 
‘‘Stand  fast  in  the  faith,  love  one  another,  and  be  not  offended 
at  what  we  endure.’*  With  the  others  who  had  survived  the  fury 
of  the  beasts,  she  was  finally  despatched  with  the  sword.  The 
rest  received  the  fatal  stroke  in  silence.  Perpetua  was  woman 
enough  to  shriek  as  the  weapon  pierced  her  side  ; but.  Death  of 
immediately  recovering,  guided  the  hand  of  the  trem- 
bling  gladiator  to  a more  mortal  spot.  Perhaps,  adds  the  no- 
tary, the  unclean  spirit  was  afraid  of  her ; and,  without  her 
own  consent,  so  noble  a lady  could  not  have  been  put  to 
death. 

The  beautiful  narrative"®  from  which  these  incidents  are 
gleaned,  was  written  in  part  by  Perpetua  herself;  the  preface 
and  conclusion  being  added  by  a coarser  hand.  Some  Montanht 
touches  in  it  betray,  as  has  been  said,  a Montanistic 
bias.  That  the  writer  of  the  preface  sympathized  with  the  new 
Prophets,  there  can  be  no  question.  “ The  Spirit,”  he  observes, 
“was  not  poured  forth  upon  early  times  only.  The  older  the 
world  is,  the  more  novel  and  the  more  startling  the  demonstra- 
tions of  His  power.  And  in  the  latest  times  of  all,  the  more 
manifestly  must  appear  the  truth  of  the  prediction  that  the 
young  men  shall  see  visions  and  the  old  shall  dream  Fondness 
dreams.”  That  these  “latest  times  of  all”  were  act- 
ually  appearing,  was  a common  and  natural  feeling  amid  the 
horrors  of  persecution.  Hence  an  eagerness  for  martyrdom, 
passing  the  bounds  of  sobriety.  Hence  a fondness  for  ecsta- 
sies and  visions,  and  an  austerity  of  temper  which  sometimes 

Passio  SS.  Perpetuce  et  Felicitatis  atque  Sociorum  ; given  in  Miinter’s 
Primordia  Etc.  Af.  * 

10 


2i8 


History  of  the  Church. 

clouded,  without  obscuring  altogether,  the  simplicity  and  reality 
of  the  martyr’s  faith. 

^ It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  Tertullian,”  himself  an 
epitome  of  the  African  religious  mind,  conceiving  a great  dis- 
Tertuiiian,  g^st  at  the  laxity  and  worldliness  which  he  had  wit- 
nessed  among  the  Roman  and  other  Christians,  boldly 
Ob'  ^*7-  took  the  part  of  the  spirituals,”  as  they  called  them- 
selves, against  the  easier  and  more  indulgent  views  of  the  ‘‘car- 
nal ” Catholics. 

There  was  a question,  for  example,  as  to  the  propriety  of 
virgins  being  §^en  unveiled.  The  majority  of  the  Church  were 
Question  Content  to  let  “custom”  decide  in  matters  of  this 
of  Veils.  stricter  party  were  disposed  to  condemn 

the  custom  as  scandalous  and  indecent,  a sin  against  nature 
and  the  law  of  God.  For  awhile,  the  question  was  agitated 
without  any  serious  breach  of  peace.  At  length,  however, 
the  contest  day  by  day  becoming  more  bitter,  the  unveiled 
virgins,  or  “virgins  of  men,”  as  they  were  called,  began  to  be 
“offended”  at  “the  virgins  of  God,”  and  the^ latter,  perhaps, 
were  scandalized  in  turn  ; so  that  things  were  tending  fast  to 
an  open  rupture.” 

Or,  to  take  another  instance,  a Christian  soldier  had  on  a 
certain  holiday  declined  to  wear  the  chaplet,  usually  worn  on 
Question  of  such  occasions  in  honor  of  the  Emperor. The  Spir- 
the  Crown,  approved.  The  more  compliant  Catholics  re- 

garded the  man  as  scrupulous  to  excess,  and  even  blamed  him 
for  exposing  his  brethren  to  needless  persecution.  Tertullian 
threw  himself  eagerly  into  these  and  similar  quarrels  of  the  day. 
A Roman  by  blood,  a lawyer  by  education,  but  African  and 

**  Qu.  Septimius  Florens  Tertullianus;  on  this  subject,  see  Kaye’s  Ter- 
tullian; Neander’s  Antignosticus ; and  Tertullian.  Op.y  etc.  Nic.  Rigalt. 
1689. 

Tertull.  De  Veland.  Virgin.  2,  3. 

De  Corona;  in  which  tract  Tertullian  advocates  unwritten  tradition 
almost  as  heartily  as  in  the  tract  De  Veland.  VirginiduSj  he  inveighs  against  it. 
In  the  one  case  custom  was  on  his  side,  in  the  other  not.  See  Hagenbach, 
Hist,  of  Doc,  2 34  (Buch’s  tr.). 


North  African  Church. 


219 


atrabillious  in  his  temper ; full  of  genius,  moreover,  intensely 
sensuous  and  realistic,  more  eager  than  reverential  in  his  pas- 
sionate devotion  to  the  Truth,  yet  deeply,  and  at  times  ten- 
derly, solicitous  for  the  souls  of  men : he  had  seen  much  in 
Rome  and  Carthage  to  put  him  out  of  temper  with  the  Christi- 
anity of  the  day,  and  to  make  him  look  habitually  on  the  dark 
side  of  things.  To  idealize  the  past  into  a sort  of  Past  and 
golden  age,  needs  only  a vivid  imagination,  or  a feeble  Present, 
sense  of  facts.  To  see  good  in  the  present  is  a much  harder 
task.  It  requires  a supernatural  gift  of  charity  and  patience. 
But  in  this  virtue  of  patience,  Tertullian,  as  he  more  than  once 
acknowledged,  was  particularly  deficient.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  by  the  end  of  the  second  century  there  were 
already  facts  in  Christianity  which  good  and  earnest  men  found 
difficult  to  digest. 

The  old  landmarks  betwixt  the  Church  and  the  world  were 
undergoing  a gradual  but  visible  removal.  The  believer  and 
the  infidel  had,  in  the  innocent  customs  of  society*^—  Decline  of 
in  dress,  in  fashion,  in  amusements,  in  social  freedom — Cfiscipime. 
an  amount  of  common  ground  which  was  every  day  enlarging, 
and  which,  by  a convenient  distinction  between  precepts  of 
obligation  and  counsels  of  perfection,  might  admit  of  such  an 
extension  as  to  make  Christian  and  heathen  ethics  substantially 
the  same.  In  morals,  as  in  doctrine,  the  Apostolic  ship  was 
much  covered  by  the  waves ; the  Apostolic  net  had  many  rents 
in  it.  This  decline  was  rebuked,  but  not  remedied,  by  the 
followers  of  Montanus.  These  and  other  ascetics,  partj^ 
by  appropriating  the  term  spiritual  to  themselves,  and 
the  term  psychical  or  carnal  to  the  mass  of  their  Christian 
brethren,  had  caused  both  to  be  regarded  as  mere  party  words. 
And  when  religious  phrases  come  thus  to  be  perverted  into  shib- 

^4  At  this  period  converts  were  made  in  great  numbers  among  the  wealthy- 
middle  class.  In  Alexandria,  especially,  Clement  {Pcedagogus)  found  it  nec- 
essary to  inveigh  against  dresses,  jewels,  trinkets  of  every  sort,  rare  birds, 
monkeys,  lap-dogs,  and  other  luxuries  that  defrauded  orphans  and  widows  of 
their  just  support. 


220 


History  of  the  Church. 

boleths  of  party,  their  authority  over  the  conscience  is  in  a 
great  measure  lost. 

‘ Tertullian,  however,  was  too  earnest  a man  to  join  in  the 
ridicule  which  the  inflated  pretensions  of  the  Spirituals  had 
drawn  upon  them.  He  saw  in  them  the  advocates  of 

spirituals 

and  a return  to  stricter  ways.  Their  lives  comparad  favor- 
ably with  the  somewhat  frivolous  behavior  tolerated 
among  Catholics.  They  seemed  to  be  reformers.  And  their 
wonderful  success — for  the  influence  of  Montanism  had  spread 
with  a rapidity  that  seemed  to  rival  the  first  effusion  of  Pente- 
costal light — gave  plausibility  to  the  claim  of  a special  demon- 
stration of  spiritual  power. 

Under  these  circumstances,  persuaded  by  Proculus,  a Mon- 
tanistic  leader,  and  influenced  by  the  favor  shown  in  Rome 
Tertui  Praxeas  the  Patripassian,  Tertullian  undertook,  as 

iMsparty^  he  expresses  it,  the  defence  of  the  Paraclete^  and  so 
became  separated from  the  Psychics^  or  Catholics.  But 
it  was  not  in  his  nature  to  be  a mere  follower  in  a sect.  The 
heartiness  and  boldness  which  estranged  him  from  one  party, 
made  him  in  time  a separatist  from  the  other.  He  and  his  co- 
religionists in  North  Africa,  became,  in  fact,  Tertullianists  rather 
than  Montanists.  The  congregation  lingered,  though  gradually 
diminishing  in  numbers,  till  the  times  of  S.  Augustine  when, 
at  last,  ‘Hhe  few  who  remained  came  back  into  the  Church, 
and  transferred  their  Basilica  to  the  care  of  the  Catholics.^* 

How  Tertullian  and  his  party  were  regarded  by  the  ortho- 
dox of  Carthage  is  not  quite  clear.  He  was  condemned  in 
J//S  Rome  ; he  was  anathematized,  perhaps,  by  one  of  the 
Position.  Carthaginian  Councils."^  Still,  a kindly  feeling  seems 
to  have  subsisted  between  him  and  the  great  body  of  the  Church. 
His  followers  also  experienced  some  indulgence.  Fasting  strictly 

*5  S.  Augustin.  Ad  QiiodvuUdetim.  Hceres.  86. 

A sentence  in  his  tract,  De  Ptidicit. — “ ecclesia  quidem  delicta  donabit, 
sed  ecclesia  spiritus  per  spiritalem  hominem,  non  ecclesia  numerus  episco- 
porum  ” — is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  aimed  at  some  Council  that 
had  condemned  him. 


221 


North  African  Church. 

and  frequently,  abhorring  second  marriages,  insisting  more  than 
others  upon  clerical  celibacy,  shunning  the  fashions  and  amuse- 
ments, and  so  far  as  possible  the  business  of  the  world,  lookirfg 
with  scornful  pity  upon  the  compliances  and  evasions  of  a carnal 
Catholicism,  and  fortifying  themselves  in  all  this  by  dreams, 
ecstasies,  and  visions,  with  a lively  hope  of  the  speedy  manifes- 
tation of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  they  had  too  strong  a hold 
upon  the  sympathies  of  believers  to  be  easily  or  suddenly  sepa- 
rated from  them.  In  the  course  of  time,  however,  they  became 
more  sour ; and  it  was  from  the  bitter  root  of  Phrygian  enthu- 
siasm that  sprang  some  of  the  wildest  errors  of  North  African 
religion. 

But  in  the  meanwhile,  Tertullian  had  gained  a place  in  the 
affections  of  all  parties,  from  which  no  anathema  has  been  able 
to  dislodge  him.  Fuit  in  ecclesia  magna  tentatio,  says 
Vincent  of  Lerins  : his  position  in  the  Church  was 
indeed  a great  trial.  By  his  plastic  genius,  and  ready  and  rough 
vigor,  he  almost  created  the  religious  language  of  the  West. 
He  was  a mighty  champion  for  the  Faith,  against  the  subtle 
rationalism  of  Praxeas  whom  he  forced  to  retract  his  errors,  and 
against  the  Gnostic  views  of  Marcion,  Hermogenes,  Apelles, 
and  other  disturbers  of  the  times.  He  is  the  exponent  of  that 
mighty  struggle  against  sin,  that  deep  and  earnest  sense  of  the 
necessity  of  grace,  that  intense  realism  and  individualism  in 
matters  of  religion,  which  has  remained  characteristic 
of  the  Western  mind.  His  unquestionable  services  to  ^afnesti 
the  cause  of  orthodoxy,  and  still  more  to  the  cause 
of  religious  earnestness,"^  ^ere  no  doubt  appreciated  by  the 

^7Tertullian’s  mind  was  thoroughly  anti-gnostic,  and  his  bias  diametri- 
cally opposite  to  that  of  the  Alexandrine  doctors.  His  conceptions  were 
sensuous  in  the  extreme.  Thus  among  his  paradoxes  he  maintained  that  God 
is  corporeal — being  unable  to  conceive  that  anything  without  body  could  exist 
(which,  however,  was  probably  nothing  more  than  a rough  way  of  asserting 
the  personality  of  God);  that  Christ  (when  He  appeared  to  the  Patriarchs)  and 
the  Angels  were  clothed  in  Jlesh  ; that  souls  are  propagated  with  the  body  ex 
traduce,  and  are  themselves  corporeal ; that  wicked  souls  become  demons  after 
death,  etc.  From  the  same  turn  of  mind  he  conceived  of  the  grace  of  bap- 


222 


History  of  the  Church. 

mass  of  his  countrymen ; and  atoned  in  their  eyes,  as  they  have 
atoned  in  the  eyes  of  posterity,  for  a multitude  of  philosophic 
and  theologic  errors. 

But  it  happened  with  this  great  master,  as  with  the  equally 
great  Origen  in  the  East,  that  the  Church  spirit  of  his  times 
The  Church  Stronger  than  the  influence  of  any  individual 

^tha'ifihe  spirit.  The  disciples  of  Tertullian,  and  especially 
Schools.  Cyprian  and  S.  Augustine,  appreciated  his  merits 

without  following  him  in  his  errors."®  He  exerted  an  influence 
upon  the  doctrinal  development  of  his  day,  but  he  did  not 
control  it. 

With  the  death  of  Severus,  the  persecution  in  Africa,  as 
elsewhere,  ceased.  An  interval  of  forty  years  of  peace,  occa- 
A Season  of  interrupted  by  temporary  outbreaks,  allowed 

Peace,  the  good  Seed  and  the  bad  to  grow  up  together.  The 
Church  extended  itself  into  the  remoter  Province  of 
Mauritania.  Councils  were  held,  some  of  them  attended  by  as 
many  as  ninety  Bishops ; in  one  of  which  Privatus,  probably  a 
Bishop,  was  condemned  for  some  heresy  unknown. 

For  the  rest.  Gnostic  or  Montanistic  sects,  unmolested  so  far 
as  we  can  learn  by  a succession  of  indulgent  and  not  very  able 
Bishops,  contended  for  the  right  of  women  to  teach ; 

Sccis  m 

or  endeavored  to  make  sense  of  the  incoherent  utter- 
ances of  the  ecstatic  prophetesses ; or,  in  the  picturesque  lan- 
guage of  the  times,  killed  the  fish  of  Christ  by  forbidding  them 

tism  as  lodged  in  the  water ^ to  which  he  ascribed  a sort  of  magical  operation — 
the  water  being,  as  it  were,  transubstantiated.  Expressions  of  this  kind  scat- 
tered over  his  works  are  capable  of  a charitable  and  orthodox  interpretation ; 
but  they  show,  none  the  less,  the  peculiarity  of  his  mind.  (It  would  be  easy 
to  show  that  the  same  bias  has  pervaded  and  still  pervades  the  Western  mind 
generally.)  His  practical  turn  is  seen  in  a mere  enumeration  of  his  writings 
— about  showSf  idolatry,  marriage,  prayer,  baptism,  fe^nale  apparel,  veils, 
crowns,  fasts,  etc.,  etc.  In  treating  all  such  matters,  he  took  the  austere  side, 
but  was  as  sensuous  agahist  abuses  as  others  were  for  them.  See  Neander’s 
Antignosticus.  For  Tertullian’s  paradoxes,  see  Essay  of  Pamel.  prefixed  to 
his  Works. 

They  partook  not  a little,  however,  of  his  peculiar  bias. 


223 


North  African  Church. 

the  water ; or  used  water  instead  of  wine  in  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper ; or  cultivated  peculiarities  of  posture  and  of 
gesture  ; or  railed,  as  occasion  served,  against  Bishops  and  other 
rulers.*^  On  the  whole,  there  seems  to  have  been  much  of 
mutual  forbearance.  The  Canons  passed  in  Councils  spirit  of 
were  directed  mainly  against  the  encroachments  of  a ^^rid. 
worldly  spirit.  That  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  were  not  to 
engage  in  secular  affairs ; that  the  sons  of  clergymen  were  not 
to  marry  among  infidels  or  heretics ; that  no  one  should  be 
ordained  till  he  had  made  Catholic  Christians  of  his  _ ^ 

Drift  of 

own  household;  that  virgins,  deprived  of  their  nat-  Church 

Laws, 

ural  guardians,  should  be  committed  to  the  care  of 
grave  elderly  females;  these,  and  similar  laws,  show  the  drift 
of  the  legislation  and  of  the  temptations  of  the  times.  Of 
other  matters,  beyond  occasional  names,  added  probably  through 
popular  violence  to  the  roll  of  Martyrs,  so  little  record  remains, 
that  until  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Decius  and  the  troubled 
episcopate  of  S.  Cyprian,  the  thread  of  African  Church  history 
becomes  almost  invisible. 

*9  Of  the  Aquarians i Quiniillians,  Artotyriies,  and  other  absurd  sects, 
little  beyond  the  name  is  known.  It  is  probable  enough,  however,  that  as  the 
Montanists  and  Gnostics  became  more  and  more  divided,  they  departed  fur- 
ther from  the  customs  of  the  Church ; so  that  the  decree  of  the  council  under 
Agrippinus,  requiring  converts  from  them  to  be  baptized,  was  a necessary  pre- 
caution ; the  rite  being  either  neglected,  or  improperly  performed. 


224 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CARTHAGE  AND  S.  CYPRIAN. 

When  Cyprian,*  a convert  from  heathenism,  and  a man  of 
Cyfrian  education,  and  high  social  standing,  rose  by 

Bishop,  rapid  steps  from  the  grade  of  a catechumen  to  that  of 
the  Episcopate  of  Carthage  and  the  Primacy*  of  North 
Africa,  he  found  the  Church,  from  causes  already  alluded  to,  in 
a state  of  considerable  disorder. 

A factious  spirit  extensively  prevailed,  and  scandals  were  rife 
among  Laity  and  Clergy.  The  Virgins  and  Confessors — re- 
state  of  garded  more  and  more  as  the  flower  of  Christianity, 
the  Church,  treated  for  that  reason  with  a perilous  indulgence 
— were  not  a little  crazed  by  the  flattery,  which  even  the  Bish- 
ops, when  they  ventured  to  reprove  them,  could  not  prudently 
withhold. 

* At  his  baptism  he  adopted  the  name  Cjecilius  in  gratitude  to  an  aged 
Presbyter  of  that  name,  who  had  been  instrumental  in  his  conversion  ; so  that 
his  full  name  reads  Thasciiis  Ccecilius  Cyprianus.  His  life,  or  rather,  his 
eulogy,  was  written  by  Pontius,  his  deacon  ; but  his  public  acts  are  to  be  found 
in  a more  authentic  form  in  his  own  spirited  writings.  See  Poole,  Life  and 
Times  of  S.  Cyprian  ; S.  Caecil.  Cyprian.  Op,  Omn,  a Joanne  Fello — acce- 
dunt  Annales  Cyprianici  a Joanne  Pearson,  et  Dissertationes  Cyprianic, 
Henric.  Dodwell.  Amstelodam.  1700.  Cypriani,  Op,  Genuinay  Goldh.  Lips. 
1838. 

2 In  the  days  of  Agrippinus  (a.d.  215),  there  seems  to  have  been  but  one 
primate  in  North  Africa.  By  the  middle  of  the  century  there  were  three.  Car. 
thage,  however,  still  holding  the  first  place.  The  primacies  of  Numidia  and 
Mauritania  were  attached  to  no  particular  See,  but  were  given  to  the  oldest 
Bishops.  For  the  powers  of  the  Primate  (which  were  strictly  limited),  see 
Miinter,  Primord,  ix.  2. 


225 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

Of  the  Virgins,  some  were  petulant  in  behavior  and  im- 
modest in  attire.3  So  far  from  veiling  themselves  from  the 
gaze  of  a profane  world  according  to  the  strict  notions  Bad 
of  Tertullian,  they  seem  to  have  been  living  almost 
without  rule.  They  wasted  their  time ; they  spent  rtrgms. 
their  money  capriciously  ; they  dressed  and  painted  to  such  ex- 
cess that,  ‘‘when  God  looked  for  the  faces  of  His  elect,  He  saw 
only  the  false  colors  and  gewgaws  of  the  Devil.  Others  of 
them  became  notorious  as  gossips.  They  were  wont  to  gad  about 
from  house  to  house  ; and  delighted  in  the  wanton  merry-mak- 
ings which  African  society  tolerated  and  encouraged  at  marriage 
feasts.  Some  preferred  the  heathen  to  the  Christian  rule  of  de- 
cency, and  did  not  scruple  to  be  seen  among  the  unblushing 
rabble  of  both  sexes  that  frequented  the  public  baths.  Their 
manners,  in  short,  were  not  only  scandalous,  but — from  a mod- 
ern point  of  view,  and  without  reference  to  the  omnipotence  of 
fashion  in  determining  questions  of  decorum — they  might  be 
thought  inconsistent  with  any  sense  at  all  of  Christian  obliga- 
tions. 

The  Virgins,  in  fact,  had  in  very  many  cases  mistaken  their 
calling.  Under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  it  was  nat- 
ural enough  that  this  should  be  frequently  the  case.  Motives  to 
Virginity  was  not  only  an  honorable  state  : it  was  free 
from  care.*  At  a time  when  households  were  divided  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  and  when,  owing  to  the  ubiquitous  pressure 
of  a filthy,  but  to  young  persons  fascinating,  idolatry,^  the  rear- 
ing of  children  in  Christian  habits  presented  difficulties 

. , , , . , . ^ . Its  Perils. 

without  number  domestic  life  was  often  a bitter  ser- 
vitude: marriage  involved  the  gravest  perils  and  temptations; 

3 S.  Cyprian.  De  Habitu  Virgin.  In  this  and  the  following  paragraphs 
I follow  S.  Cyprian  and  Tertullian,  though  the  ardent  censors  of  the  vices  of 
an  age  are  not  always  good  authority  as  to  the  extent  of  the  prevalence  of 
those  vices. 

^ S.  Augustine,  De  Civitat.  Deij  ii.  26,  draws  a frightful  picture  of  the 
obscenities  of  heathen  worship. 

5 Hence  Tertullian’s  main  objection  to  infant  baptism.  Of  the  servitude 
incident  to  domestic  life  in  semi-heathen  society,  the  same  writer  speaks  feel- 
10* 


226 


History  of  the  Church. 

and  celibacy  was  regarded  as  not  only  more  safe  to  the  individ- 
ual, but  more  fruitful  to  the  Church,^  than  any  other  condition. 
It  was  popular  on  prudential  as  well  as  on  enthusiastic  grounds. 
It  was  sought,  therefore,  with  avidity  by  some  who  had  no  nat- 
ural fitness  for  it.  But  being  sought  thus,  it  was  in  many  cases 
abused.  Its  freedom  from  care  became  an  occasion  of  perilous 
self-indulgence.  Its  dignity  ministered  to  vanity  and  pride. 
Even  its  purity  was  by  a strange  freak  of  conscience  regarded 
as  an  athletic  or  agonistic  virtue,  the  more  perfect  in  proportion 
as  it  challenged  or  solicited  temptation. 

From  similar  causes,  the  insolence  of  some  of  the  Martyrs 
or  Confessors  had  become  another  crying  sin  of  the  times. ^ No 
Bishop  or  Presbyter,  nor,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  any 

Con/^essors. 

Other  distinguished  person,  had  so  far  suffered  in  North 
Africa.®  The  victims,  therefore,  it  is  probable,  were  too  often 
of  that  class  which  courted  persecution. ^ But  they  were  none 
the  less  objects  of  popular  and  feminine  idolatry.  Their  wounds 
and  stripes  were  badges  of  honor.  They  went  in  and  out  as  a 

ingly  in  many  places.  Aj>ologet.  3 ; Ad  Uxor,  ii.  4,  6.  To  heathen  husbands, 
the  meetings  were  particularly  offensive.  Says  Apuleius  : “Tunc 

(mulier)  spretis  atque  calcatis  divinis  numinibus,  in  vim  certse  religionis, 
mentita  sacrilega  prsesumptione  Dei  quern  praedicaret  unicum,  confictis  obser- 
vationibus  vanisy  fallens  omnes  homines,  et  miserum  maritum  decipiens, 
77iatutino  77iero  et  continue  stupro  corpus  mancipat.” 

^ In  illis  largiter  floret  ecclesise  matris  gloriosa  foecunditas.  S.  Cypr.  De 
Habit.  Virgin. 

7 Tertullian  thus  indignantly  sums  up  the  powers  granted  by  Zephyrinus, 
Bishop  of  Rome,  to  these  Confessors  : “ At  tu  jam  et  in  Martyres  tuos  effundis 
hanc  potestatem,  ut  quisque  ex  consensione  vincula  induit,  adhuc  mollia  in 
novo  custodiae  nomine,  statim  ambiunt  moechi  statim  adeunt  fornicatores,  jam 
preces  circumsonant,  . . . . et  inde  communicatores  revertuntur,”  etc.  The 
insolence,  tyranny,  and  presumption,  that  naturally  followed,  are  fully  seen  in 
S.  Cyprian’s  Epistles. 

^ So  says  Deacon  Pontius  in  his  life  of  S.  Cyprian. 

9 The  quiet  way  in  which  Hippolytus  describes  the  effort  of  Callistus  to 
recover  his  credit  among  the  brethren,  by  making  a disturbance  in  a Jewish 
synagogue  and  thus  exposing  himself  to  martyrdom,  shows  that  cases  of  that 
kind  were  not  uncommon.  See  chap.  iv.  of  this  Book. 


22/ 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

privileged  class.  And  as  their  ranks,  even  in  times  of  peace, 
were  constantly  recruited  through  the  wantonness  of  the  mob 
and  the  culpable  indifference  of  the  magistrates,  they  became  a 
sort  of  irregular  third  power,  having  an  influence  as  Their 
great  as  that  of  the  Clergy,  without  a corresponding 
sense  of  responsibility  and  duty.  The  evil  was  increased  by  the 
popular  belief  that  martyrdom,  or  in  its  degree,  Confessorship, 
was  a plenary  atonement  for  every  kind  of  sin. 

To  what  extent  worse  vices  obtained  among  a certain  portion 
of  the  Clergy,  and  among  that  class  of  devotees,  male  or  female, 
married  or  unmarried,  who  set  up  their  chastity  as  an  sisters  of 
idol  of  vainglory,  and  took  a giddy  pleasure  in  hang- 
ing  over  the  pit  from  which  they  professed  to  have  escaped,  it 
is  needless  to  inquire : the  cases  actually  mentioned  by  early 
writers  being  few  in  comparison  with  the  severity  of  their  stric- 
tures on  the  subject. The  subintroductce,  virgins  who  lived  as 
sisters  with  unmarried  priests,  were  a nuisance  against  which 
sermons,  canons,  and  anathemas  were  for  a long  time  ineffectual. 
In  despite  of  all  precautions,  the  Agape,  a most  beau-  The  Agape 
tiful,  but  alas  ! a most  vulnerable  feature  of  the  early 
Church  system,  was  accompanied  with  disorders  which  even  at 
this  period  broke  out  from  time  to  time,  and  which  at  length  led 
to  intolerable  abuses.  In  Tertullian’s  day  such  evils  were  deeply 
felt.  In  S.  Cyprian’s  they  had  to  be  deplored  cum  summo  animi 
gemiiu  et  dolor 

In  excesses  of  this  kind  there  was  probably  less  of  intentional 

*0  That  the  abuse  was  an  obstinate  one,  however,  is  shown  by  the  number 
of  canons  that  had  to  be  framed  against  it.  I,  Carthaginiens . can.  3 ; II,  can. 
17;  IV,  can.  46;  Niccen,  can.  3;  Ancyran.  can.  19.  See  Dodwell, 

Cyprian,  iii. 

**  Tertull.  De  Jejun.  adv.  Psychic.  17;  S.  Cyprian,^/,  vi.  Pariss.  Ter- 
tullian,  however,  in  his  Apolog.  (39),  written  when  he  was  still  a Catholic, 
tells  a different  story.  In  the  one  case  he  looked  upon  the  Church  with  an 
Apologist’s  eye,  in  the  other,  with  that  of  a censor  : in  the  one  case  he  con- 
sidered the  general  aspect  of  things,  in  the  other,  he  was  looking  at  particular 
defects.  The  most  philosophic  as  well  as  the  most  charitable  judgment  is 
that  which  is  made  from  the  former  point  of  view. 


228 


History  of  the  Church. 

hypocrisy  than  of  enthusiastic  self-deception.  Conscience,  like 
Self.  the  needle  in  the  compass,  is  true  to  its  trust  only  in 
deception,  ^ certain  equilibrium  of  the  soul.  In  the  condition  of 
the  early  Church,  at  certain  periods,  there  was  much  to  disturb 
this  even  balance,  and  to  bring  on  a state  of  mind  in  which 
extravagance  and  absurdity  became  more  or  less  the  test  of  re- 
ligious earnestness  and  reality. 

It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  there  were  those  among 
the  Africans  whose  hypocrisy  was  of  a cooler  and  more 

OtherVices.  f \ , 

calculating  kind.  Avarice  had  its  place  among  the 
vices  of  the  Clergy.  There  was  much  traffic  in  sacred  things. 

In  the  strong  and  wholesome  language  of  the  most 

A vartce.  . o o 

eminent  censor  of  the  times,  the  serpent,  condemned 
to  eat  dust  and  to  crawl  upon  the  ground,  had  dragged  many 
priests  with  him  into  the  same  degradation.  Some  were  en- 
tangled in  secular  affairs.  From  a cupidity  disgraceful  to  them- 
selves, or  from  a negligence  of  their  support  discreditable  to 
the  Church,  even  Bishops  left  their  Sees,  and  engaging  actively 
in  mercantile  pursuits,  acquired  an  ill  name  as  usurers  or  sharp- 
ers. A natural  result  of  all  this  was  that  sect  feeling 

Worldliness  . . i t • i 

and  party  spirit  grew  up  among  the  Laity.  Church 
rulers  were  despised.  Church  laws  set  at  naught.  Mixed  mar- 
riages were  common.  Matrons  gave  themselves  to  worldly  cares 
and  pleasures ; and  to  please  their  husbands  became  extrava- 
gant in  dress  and  lukewarm  in  religion.  Heathen  shows  and 
feasts  were  frequented  with  little  scruple.  Catechu- 
mens put  off  their  baptism  that  they  might  be  the 
more  free  to  sin.  The  Church’s  pensioners,  the  poor,  were 
grudgingly  supported.  The  pious  fervor  which  good  men  had 
really  felt,  and  which  hypocrites  had  found  it  necessary  to  feign 
as  a tribute  to  religion,  was  beginning  to  die  out ; and  faith 
was  sinking  into  a profound  and  ill-omened  slumber. 

**  S.  Cyprian,  De  Lapsis^  6. 

*3  Taylor’s  Early  Christianity  makes  a sophistical  use  of  such  facts. 
The  Church  is  charged  with  vices  against  which  she  was  contending.  On 
this  subject  Mr.  Poole,  in  his  Life  and  Times  of  S,  Cyprian,  very  properly 


229 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  election  of  S.  Cyprian  to  the 
Episcopate  of  Carthage,  against  the  vigorous  opposition  of  five 
leading  Presbyters  of  the  city,  was  a happy  instinct  on  CyPrian 
the  part  of  that  majority  by  which  he  was  chosen  and  ^ ^ • 

almost  forced  into  the  office.  As  his  character  was  well  known, 
it  was  also  a pledge  that  the  evils  above  mentioned  were  rather 
accidents  of  the  times,  than  things  encouraged  or  tolerated  by 
the  spirit  of  the  Church. 

He  was  a man  remarkably  well  fitted  for  the  work  that  lay 
before  him.  Converted  to  Christianity  in  the  prime  of  life  and 
in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers,  by  one  of  those  sudden  revo- 
lutions in  which  the  passage  from  darkness  to  light  is  His 

like  the  dropping  of  thick  scales  from  the  eyes,  he  had  ^orhu 

no  room  for  reserves  or  for  lingering  regrets.  By  a ^ork. 

mighty  Hand  he  had  been  led  forth  in  haste  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption.'^  He  brought  with  him  into  the  Ministry  all  the 
freshness  of  first  love  ; giving  himself  wholly  to  it,  and  disposing 

remarks  : “ What  can  be  more  satisfactory  proof  of  the  purity  of  the  Christian 
Church,  as  a society,  from  any  particular  vice,  than  the  indignant  reprobation 
of  that  vice  by  all  who  hint  at  it,  and  its  denunciation  by  several  Councils  ? ” 
To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  some  of  the  worst  sins  sprang  then,  as  now, 
from  that  abuse  of  private  judgment  or  private  conscience,  which  the  Church 
may  censure  but  cannot  possibly  prevent.  Almost  all  the  Encratites  were 
persons  of  a singularly  independent  turn  of  mind.  If  the  maxim  of  S.  Igna- 
tius, “ Do  nothing  without  the  Bishop,”  had  been  heeded  in  all  cases,  we 
should  never  have  heard  of  Origen’s  insane  act,  or  of  such  follies  as  those  of 
the  subintroductce, 

*4  “ So  entirely  was  I immersed  in  the  deadly  atmosphere  of  my  former 
life  . . . that  I despaired  of  ever  freeing  myself,  etc.  But  when  the  filth  of 
my  past  sins  was  washed  away  by  the  waters  of  Baptism,  the  pure  and  serene 
light  from  above  infused  itself  into  my  whole  spirit ; when  my  second  birth 
of  the  Spirit  had  formed  in  me  a new  man,  all  at  once  what  had  been  doubt- 
ful before,  became  certain ; what  had  been  shut  was  opened ; into  the  dark- 
ness light  shined ; that  was  easy  which  before  was  difficult,  and  that  only  diffi- 
cult which  before  was  impossible ; and  now  I knew  that  it  was  the  earthly 
and  mortal  which  had  held  me  in  the  bondage  of  sin ; but  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  had  animated  me  with  a new  and  better  nature.”  Ad  Dona- 
tum  de  Grat.  Dei.  Ep.  i.  Pariss. 


230 


History  of  the  Church. 

of  his  handsome  private  property  in  the  same  way  as  he  dis- 
pensed the  revenues  of  the  Church, — namely,  as  a steward  rather 
His  than  as  an  owner. He  was  eminently  practical  in  all 

Character.  views.  With  a benevolence  which  endeared  him 
to  the  poor,  and  a remarkable  suavity  of  manner,  he  had  much 
of  the  strong  clear-headedness,  verging  on  severity,  of  the  old 
Roman  temper, — the  masculine  good  sense  of  Tertullian,*^  with- 
out his  brilliant  and  versatile  genius.  His  saintliness,  there- 
fore, was  of  no  artificial  or  conventional  type.  It  was  the  con- 
secration of  a firm  will,  manly  instincts,  magnanimous  disposi- 
tion, and  of  a mind  as  politic  and  sagacious  as  it  was  earnest 
and  intrepid,  to  the  special  task  which  the  untowardness  of  the 
times,  and  perhaps  the  negligence  of  his  predecessors,  had 
suffered  to  accumulate  for  him. 

And  this  task  was  the  revival  of  discipline  in  the  Church. 
If  reform,  strictly  speaking,  had  been  needed,  Cyprian  was  the 
man  for  the  work  of  a reformer.  As  it  was,  the  short- 

Hts 

Special  comings  and  excesses  of  the  day  were  rather  the  abuse 
of  a good  inheritance,  than  any  constitutional  or  radi- 
cal disease.  There  was  no  lack  of  wholesome  rules.  There 
was  no  want,  if  it  could  only  be  turned  in  the  right  direction,  of 
an  earnest  and  fruitful  though  undisciplined  Christian  spirit. 
To  arouse  that  spirit,  to  bring  it  to  bear  upon  the  enforcement 
of  the  canons,  to  chasten  and  direct  it,  to  curb  its  extravagances 
without  impairing  its  true  strength,  was  the  object,  which  with 
singular  clearness  of  perception  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  S. 
Cyprian  kept  before  him. 

In  looking  around  for  the  means  of  carrying  out  this  pur- 

*5  Pontius  says  that  he  gave  all  his  goods  to  the  Church ; but  as  we  learn 
afterwards  that  his  property  was  confiscated  in  the  Decian  persecution,  it 
seems  probable  that  he  kept  the  administration  of  it  in  his  own  hands.  In- 
deed, as  Bishop,  he  could  hardly  have  done  otherwise. 

Tertullian  was  his  favorite  author.  When  he  said  Da  mihi  magis- 
trum,’’  it  was  always  known  what  book  he  meant.  With  such  a master, 
Cyprian’s  rapid  proficiency  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  is  not  so  won- 
derful as  (considering  his  late  conversion)  it  might  at  first  sight  appear. 


231 


s Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

pose,  he  found  the  real  working  power  of  the  Church  practically 
distributed  among  three  classes.  There  were  the  Working 

Clergy,  headed  by  the  Bishop,  but  considerably  im-  i^orces, 
paired  in  influence  by  the  prevalence  of  party  spirit ; the  Laity, 
represented  in  the  North  African  Church  by  the  Seniores  po- 
puliy^’^  a sort  of  lay-elders,  who  acted  with  the  Clergy  in  all 
matters  of  discipline  and  Church  business ; and  lastly,  the  Mar- 
tyrs, Confessors,  Virgins,  and  the  like — an  irregular  semi- 
clerical third  power"^ — the  weight  of  which,  however,  was 
generally  thrown  into  the  scale  of  popular  opinion.  Theoreti- 
cally, the  Bishop  was  the  head  of  this  system.  Practically,  each 
class  had  a voice  of  undefined  potency.  Nothing  without  the 
People  was  as  operative  a rule,  as  Nothing  without  the  Balance 
Bishop.  There  was,  in  truth,  a practical  balance  of  of 
Church  powers  which  custom  had  established,  but  which  neither 
custom  nor  theory  had  accurately  defined.  In  the  Word  and 
the  Sacraments  the  Clergy  were  supreme.  In  the  choice  and 
maintenance  of  the  Clergy  the  People  ruled.  In  matters  of 
discipline  both  were  consulted  ; both  had  a voice;  and  against 
the  express  will  of  either  nothing  could  assume  a legal  or  bind- 
ing form.*^ 

*7  Praesident  probati  quique  seniores,  honorem  istum  non  pretio  sed  testi- 
monio  adepti.  Tertull.  Apol.  c.  39. 

Of  this  third  power  in  the  Church,  Albaspineus,  quoted  and  confirmed 
by  Schelstrate,  speaks  thus:  “The  ancient  Church  had  nothing  rare  or  pi  e- 
cious  in  her  gift,  that  she  gave  not  to  Martyrs ; so  that,  while  they  lacked  the 
ministerial  character,  they  became  lay-Bishops,  at  least  in  power,  and  had 
even  more  authority  and  weight  than  Presbyters  or  Bishops.”  In  confirma- 
tion of  which  he  quotes  Tertullian  : Quid  ergo  ? si  EpiscopuSy  si  Diaconus, 
si  Vidua,  si  Virgo,  si  Doctor,  si  etiam  Martyr  lapsus  a reguld  fuerit : ubi 
pluris  facere  Martyres,  quam  Episcopos  et  Presbyteros,  atque  aliquid  supra 
Episcopum  addere  videtur.  Schelstrate,  Eccles.  African,  ii.  4. 

*9  Of  the  many  proofs  of  this,  I select  two  : S.  Cyprian,  in  his  iith  Ep., 
Fratribus  in  Plebe  Consist entibus,  speaking  of  the  case  of  the  lapsed  : “ Cum 
pace  nobis  omnibus  a Domino  prius  data  ad  ecclesiam  regredi  coeperimus, 
tunc  examinabuntur  singula  prcesentibus  et  judicantibus  vobis.”  See  same 
Ep.,  and  the  tract,  De  Lapsis,  passim.  In  the  Acta  Purgationis  Cceciliani 
(S..  Optati  Op.  Dupin,  p.  169),  the  following  direction  is  given:  Adhibete  con- 


232  History  of  the  Church. 

Cyprian  did  not  attempt  a readjustment  of  this  system. 

Cyprian's  He  took  it  as  it  was,  and  conscientiously  worked 
Policy,  it. 

When  it  was  necessary,  therefore,  for  himself  to  act,  he  laid 
much  stress,  as  was  right  and  natural,  upon  episcopal  preroga- 
tive. When  he  had  to  work  through  the  popular  element,  he 
spake  in  equally  high  terms  of  the  dignity  and  responsibility 
that  lay  upon  the  People.  In  the  same  spirit,  he  magnified 
true  martyrdom,  he  exalted  true  virginity ; though  the  Martyrs 
and  Virgins  sometimes  were  but  scourges  in  his  side.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  disparaged  no  class ; he  elevated  none  at  the 
expense  of  other  classes.  The  Church  to  him  was  a living 
body  composed  of  many  living  forces.  To  enable  each  force 
All  Classes  to  hve  and  work  with  freedom,®®  but  to  bring  all  at 
exalted.  same  time  under  that  strong  control,  without 

which  freedom  and  even  life  is  an  impossible  chimera,  was,  so 
far  as  he  had  a theory — which,  being  eminently  a man  of 
action,  it  is  probable  he  had  not — the  substance  of  his  theory 
of  Ecclesiastical  discipline  and  order. 

A few  instances  of  his  management  of  particular  cases  that 
came  before  him,  may  here  be  mentioned  as  illustrations  of  this 
point. 

Rogatian,  an  aged  Bishop,  consults  him  about  the  case  of  a 

clericos  et  seniores  plebis  ecclesiasticos  viros,  et  inquirant  diligenter,  quae  sint 
istae  dissensiones. 

=»Moslieim,  in  his  one-sided  and  disingenuous  remarks  on  this  subject, 
acknowledges  that  Cyprian  ‘‘  attributes  much  importance  to  the  clergy  and  the 
people,”  that  ‘‘he  makes  the  Church  to  be  superiot  to  the  Bishop,” — w’hich 
is  a mistranslation  of  Cyprian’s  words ; but  contends  that  “ this  man  of  un- 
questionable excellence  and  worth  . . . yields  to  circutnsiances  when  he  admits 
associates  in  the  government  of  the  Church,  but  speaks  out  the  sentiments  of 
his  heart  when  he  extols  bishops,”  etc.  That  is,  Mosheim  takes  half  of 
Cyprian’s  words  as  honest,  and  rejects  the  other  half  as  mere  diplomacy;  a 
process  by  which  any  man  may  be  proved  to  be  anything  that  a hostile  critic 
chooses  to  make  of  him.  In  the  same  way,  Mosheim  sees  in  Cyprian  nothing 
but  contradictions  and  confusion  of  ideas.  But  the  contradiction  is  merely, 
that  Cyprian’s  language  continually  contradicts  Mosheim’s  interpretation  of 
that  language.  Historical  Commentaries^  vol.  ii.  J 24. 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian.  233 

contumacious  Deacon.  Cyprian,  in  answer,  points  out  the 
canonical  power  to  degrade  the  offender ; but  recom-  j^jcampies 
mends  a further  trial  of  patience  and  forbearance. 

Geminius  Victor,  an  ecclesiastic,  had  violated  the  canon  which 
forbade  dying  men  to  make  the  clergy  executors  or  guardians."^^ 
Cyprian  caused  the  canon  to  be  enforced.  The  only  punish- 
ment provided  for  in  ^uch  cases  was  the  post-mortem  sentence, 
that  *^no  oblation  should  be  made  for  his  death;  no  prayer 
nor  sacrifice  for  his  repose.”  His  name,  in  other  words,  was 
stricken  from  the  diptychs.  He  was  to  have  no  part  in  that 
solemn  commemoration  of  the  departed,  which  was  one  of  the 
marked  features  of  the  early  Eucharistic  Service. “ An  actor, 
who  after  baptism  continued  to  teach  though  not  to  practise  his 
art,  was  commanded  to  desist.  It  was  better,  Cyprian  reasoned, 
that  one  should  live  on  the  Church  alms  or  even  starve,  than 
earn  a livelihood  by  a scandalous  and  perilous  profession.  In 
numberless  such  cases  Church  rulers  had  to  struggle  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  spirit  of  the  world.  In  this  struggle 
Struggle  they  had  the  canons  on  their  side,  and  the  ‘^Ivorid. 
general  sentiment  of  the  Church.  But  on  the  other  side  there 
were  considerations  of  temporary  expediency,  which  were  al- 
ready beginning  to  make  the  canons  practically  a dead  letter. 

With  regard  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  subintroductce,  the 
Bishop  was  equally  decided.  No  one  can  be  secure  virgins 
who  exposes  himself  to  danger  without  need : God  ^"^M^rry 
will  save  no  servant  of  His  from  the  devil  who  puts  thdn^give 
himself  gratuitously  in  the  way  of  the  devil's  snares.”  ScandaL 
If  any  professed  virgins  found  themselves  unfitted  for  that 

21  In  such  cases,  the  Clergy  were  obliged  by  the  civil  law  to  accept  the 
responsibility,  and  thus  became  entangled  in  secular  concerns. 

22  The  diptychs  were  properly  the  roll  of  all  who,  as  ‘‘  citizens  of  the 
Heavenly  City,”  had  their  names  written  in  “ the  Book  of  Life.”  All  believ- 
ers, after  their  departure,  were  probably  mentioned  once  in  the  Eucharistic 
Service.  Afterwards  some  were  excluded  by  way  of  discipline.  Martyrs 
became  entitled  to  a perpetual  commemoration.  This  custom,  like  many 
other  similar  practices,  had  a wholesome  operation  for  awhile,  but  degene- 
rated into  abuses  and  superstitions.  See  Dodwell,  Dissertat.  Cyprian,  v. 


234 


History  of  the  Church. 

state,  they  should  not  hesitate  to  marry.  If  they  declined  this 
remedy,  and  persisted  in  giving  scandal,  they  were  to  be  cap- 
itally punished.  For  under  the  old  law,  as  Cyprian  reasoned, 
such  offenders  were  slain  with  the  carnal  sword  : now  they  should 
be  slain  with  the  spiritual  sword, — they  should  be  put  to  death 
by  being  put  out  of  the  Church.  Accordingly,  he  approved  of 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  passed  upon  a certain  Deacon 
who  had  offended  in  this  way;  a decision  in  which,  as  usual 
in  such  cases,''^  the  Presbyters  of  Carthage  were  consulted  and 
concurred. 

But  the  cause  of  discipline,  with  the  chastisement  of  the 
disorders  so  prevalent  everywhere,  was  becoming  too  weighty  a 
Warnings  earthly  prelate.  As  S.  Cyprian  had  felt 

o/judg-  from  the  beginning  of  his  episcopate,  and  as  he  had 

^ent,  ^ , - 

seen,  indeed,  in  visions  divinely  sent,  a time  of  thorough 
sifting  was  nigh  at  hand.  These  presentiments  of  coming  judg- 
ment, with  confident  predictions  based  upon  them,  were  a decided 
feature  of  what  may  be  called  the  inner  religious  history  of  the 
early  Church. They  are  not  uncommon  in  all  ages  of  the  world. 
^ In  S.  Cyprian's  case,  such  monitions  were  allowed  no 

Dreams 

and  little  force  in  determining  his  conduct.  In  proportion, 
therefore,  as  he  felt  the  forewarning  shadow  of  a divine 
judgment  upon  the  Church — to  cauterize  her  wounds,  to  purge 
her  humors,  to  nerve  her  whole  frame  " — he  was  the  more  earnest 
in  urging  upon  all  her  members  the  necessity  of  self-judgment. 

23  « A primordio  episcopatus  mei*  statui,  nihil  sine  consilio  vestro  mea 
privatim  sententia  gerere.  Sicut  honor  mutuus  poscit,  in  commune  tractabi- 
mus.”  EpistoL  v.  Pariss. 

24  « Sancto  Spiritu  suggerente,  et  Domino  per  visiones  multas  et  mani- 
festas  admonente'^'* — was  the  formula  of  a Carthaginian  Council,  A.D.  252. 
These  visions  were  ridiculed  by  many.  As  Cyprian  says  (^EpistoL  ad  Floren- 
tium  Pupianum')y  ‘‘  I know  that  dreams  and  visions  seem  frivolous  to  some; 
but  only  to  those  who  would  rather  believe  against  the  priests  than  believe 
with  them.”  On  this  subject,  see  Dodwell,  Dissertat.  Cyp.  iv. 

25  Origen,  about  the  same  time,  was  predicting  persecutions,  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  neededy  and  from  his  foreseeing  “ that  the  downfall  of  the  State 
religion  ” would  be  considered  by  many  Emperors  disastrous  to  the  Empire. 
See  Neander’s  Church  History y \ i.  part  ii. 


235 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

When  the  expected  storm  came,  it  raged  more  widely,  more 
furiously,  and  with  a more  decided  effort  to  exterminate  the 
Church,  than  any  similar  event  before.  The  reign  of  Eighth 
some  of  the  preceding  Emperors,  and  especially  of 
Philip,  had  given  the  Church  a foretaste  of  the  deceitful 
sunshine  of  imperial  protection.  Philip,  stained  with  many 
crimes,  but  with  religious  feeling  enough  to  make  him  super- 
stitious, had  even  desired  to  have  a part  in  the  prayers  of 
the  Church;  and,  it  is  said,  had  gone  through  the  form 
of  penance  required  in  such  cases. He  was  supplanted  by 
Decius,  who,  partly  from  hatred  of  a system  favored  Pectus 
by  his  predecessors,  and  partly  from  a desire  to  revive  Emperor^ 
the  memory  of  the  old  Roman  glory  which  he  attributed 
to  the  favor  of  the  gods,  proceeded  to  a determined  and  system- 
atic persecution.  His  edicts  to  that  effect  were  sent  forthwith 
into  all  the  principal  cities. 

Fabianus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  was  among  the  earliest  victims. 
The  post  he  had  held  was  too  offensive  to  the  Em-  Fabianus 
peror,  and  consequently  too  perilous,  for  any  imme-  " 
diate  successor.  It  remained  vacant,  therefore,  for  more  than 
one  year. 

When  the  imperial  edict  reached  Carthage,  a court  of  inquiry 
was  appointed,  consisting  of  a magistrate  and  five  citizens,  and 
a day  was  set  for  Christians  to  clear  themselves  by  cyprian 
sacrificing  to  idols.  Many  availed  themselves  of  the 
interval  thus  allowed,  and  withdrew  into  the  country.  Among 
these  was  Cyprian  himself.  Admonished  by  a dream,  and 
justified  by  the  common  interpretation  of  our  Lord’s  direction 
for  such  cases,''^  he  hid  himself  from  the  tempest  and  awaited 

^ Euseb.  vi.  36.  That  an  Emperor  like  Philip,  addicted  to  superstitions 
of  all  kinds,  and  having  little  of  the  Roman  feeling  for  the  State  religion, 
should  in  his  times  of  remorse  have  turned  towards  the  Church,  does  not 
seem  to  me  at  all  improbable.  The  reality  of  his  faith  is,  of  course,  another 
question. 

27  S.  Matt.  X.  23.  There  was  the  additional  reason  that  Cyprianum  ad 
leones  had  become  the  cry,  and  his  presence  in  the  city  exasperated  the  heathen. 


236 


History  of  the  Church. 


Other  times.  He  was  proscribed  by  the  magistrates,  and  his 
goods  confiscated.  From  his  jdace  of  retreat,  however,  he  kept 
a watchful  eye  upon  Church  affairs  in  Carthage,  and  governed 
with  as  much  vigor  as  if  he  had  been  there  in  person.  , 

Of  those  who  remained,  not  a few  denied  Christ  in  a variety 
of  ways;  some  promptly,*®  some  reluctantly,  others  under  the 
Many  fall  ^gony  of  cxcruciating  tortures.  Some  offered  sacrifice 
away.  idols — sacrificati ; some  burned  incense  before  the 

image  of  the  Emperor — thurijicati ; those  who  had  the  means 
purchased  immunity  to  themselves  in  the  form  of  a written  cer- 
tificate or  discharge, *9  and  were  called  Ubellatici,  Few  of  either 
Three  ^f  these  classes  fell  permanently  from  the  Faith.  Even 
those  who  in  the  hour  of  trial  had  shown  a disgraceful 
Lapsed.  eagerness  to  stand  fair  with  the  judges,  availed  them- 
selves of  the  earliest  opportunity  to  retrace  their  steps.  Their 
prevarication  was  caused  by  timidity  and  weakness;  and  the 
great  body  of  them  became  afterwards  fervid  and  passionate, 
but,  from  the  same  defects  of  character  which  had  brought  about 
their  fall,  exceedingly  troublesome  penitents. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  policy  of  the  magistrates  to 
break  the  spirits  of  the  faithful,  rather  than  to  arouse  them  by 
the  spectacle  of  actual  martyrdoms.  The  prisons, 
ij^jown  therefore,  were  crowded  with  Confessors.  Some  of 

Prison.  these  displayed  the  insolence,  self-conceit,  and  spirit 

of  bravado  which  are  natural  accompaniments  of  untutored 
courage,  and  by  which  martyrdom,  as  we  have  seen,  was  so  fre- 
quently disgraced.  The  persecution,  in  fact,  had  taken  the 
Church  at  unawares.  Few  were  prepared  to  suffer  for  the  Name 
of  Christ ; and  in  the  few  who  were  prepared,  enthusiasm  in  some 


28  Cyprian  complains  {^De  Lapsis)  that  a very  large  number  (maximus 
fratrum  numerus)  fell  away  at  once. 

29  Some  managed  more  quietly  to  get  their  names  inserted  in  the  register, 
as  persons  who  had  complied  with  the  edict,  without  any  request  of  their  own 
to  that  effect ; or  sometimes  the  request  was  made,  and  the  bribe  paid,  by 
friends  of  the  parties  without  their  knowledge.  The  Church  discountenanced 
all  such  evasions. 


237 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

cases  became  a substitute  for  faith.  The  tortures  inflicted  by 
the  heathen,  therefore,  were  not  the  only  trial  of  the  more  gen- 
uine Confessors.  They  had  to  brace  themselves  for  the  final 
conflict  amid  the  strife  of  tongues,  and  sometimes  amid  scenes 
of  scandalous  confusion. 3°  The  prisons  were  thronged  with 
sympathizing  friends.  Priests  and  Deacons  ministered  to  the 
inmates.  Women  kissed  their  chains.  Penitents  solicited  their 
powerful  intervention.  Demagogues  endeavored  to  make  tools 
of  them.  Flattery  and  adulation  enveloped  them  in  a cloud  of 
impenetrable  self-delusion.  Their  Bishop,  who  watched  ^ 
them  from  a distance,  and  who  labored  under  the  pecu- 
liar disadvantage  of  appearing  to  have  avoided  a conflict  to  which 
he  incited  others,  had  to  adapt  his  exhortations  to  two  distinct 
classes.  One  class,  the  most  forward  and  influential,  he  rebuked 
and  chastised.  To  do  this,  as  he  did,  in  the  face  of  a busy 
faction,  and  against  a popular  sentiment  which  regarded  the 
Confessor  as  nearer  to  God  and  consequently  more  powerful 
than  the  Bishop,  required  faith  and  courage  of  no  ordinary 
kind.  But  there  was  another  and  large  class  which  needed  en- 
couragement. High  spirits  and  pure  faith  do  not  ahvays  go 
together.  The  vivacity  of  mind,  which  some  of  the  Two  classes 
martyrs  exhibited  to  a troublesome  extent,  it  was  neces- 
sary  to  awaken  and  foster  in  others  by  every  allowable  expedi- 
ent. With  rebukes,  therefore,  he  mingled  the  most  eloquent 
appeals.  The  more  he  chastised  the  insolence  of  the  martyrs, 
the  more  he  exalted  the  dignity  of  their  calling. 3*  His  own 
character,  the  meanwhile,  he  had  to  leave  a prey  to  the  foul 
tongue  of  calumny  and  detraction. 

To  the  Priests  and  Deacons  who  ministered  to  the  Confessors 
he  g4ve  minute  directions,^^  urging  them  to  prudence  and  self- 
restraint.  They  were  to  go  to  the  prisons,  for  the  administra- 

3°  Epistol.  vi.  Pariss. 

3*  His  first  letter  to  the  Confessors  is  entirely  of  this  character.  It  is,  per- 
haps, enthusiastic  in  its  language ; but  a leader  encouraging  timid  soldiers  on 
the  field  of  battle  cannot  afford  to  pick  words.  Epistol.  Ixxx.  Pariss. 

32  Epistol.  iv.  Pariss. 


238 


History  of  the  Church. 


Libelli 

Pacts. 


tion  of  the  Sacrament,  one  Deacon  and  one  Priest  at  a time. 

No  one  should  go  oftener  than  was  absolutely  needed. 

Directions 

to  the  All  crowding  and  excitement  were  to  be  carefully 
avoided.  Nothing  was  to  be  tolerated,  in  short,  which 
should  draw  notice  needlessly  upon  themselves,  or  exasperate 
the  heathen. 

In  the  same  prudent  spirit  he  addressed  himself  to  the  case 
of  those  who  had  made  themselves  amenable  to  the  discipline 
Treatment  of  the  Churcli.  A distinction  was  made  between  the 
^Lapsed.  three  classes  of  those  who  had  fallen. The  libelli 
pads  granted  by  some  of  the  Martyrs,  which  in  popu- 
lar estimation  were  equivalent  to  a formal  restoration 
to  the  privileges  of  communion,  were  to  be  accounted  as  things 
of  naught.  The  Martyrs  had  no  right  to  bestow  such  pardons. 
The  lapsed  of  every  sort,  therefore,  were  to  be  shut  off  from  the 
Table  of  the  Lord,  till  they  could  plead  their  cause  before  the 
Clergy  and  Confessors  and  the  whole  body  of  the  People.  By 
this  course  Cyprian  made  many  enemies  to  himself.  But  with 
equal  disregard  of  personal  considerations,  he  showed  no  favor 
to  that  stricter  party,  not  numerous,  perhaps,  but 
Parties.  fanatical  and  highly  influential,  who  were  disposed  to 
treat  the  lapsed  as  apostates  from  the  Faith,  leaving  no  door 
open  for  reconciliation.  The  Laity,  in  such  cases,  were  as  a 
general  rule  less  tolerant  than  the  Clergy. Cyprian  in  some 
instances  had  not  only  to  plead  with  them  for  mercy,  but  to 
extort  mercy  from  them.  Indeed,  he  was  not  a little  censured 
for  his  facility  in  restoring  men  to  communion  whose  professions 
of  penitence  were  open  to  suspicion.  But  in  all  such  points  he 
was  equal  to  his  work.  Much  as  he  magnified  the  Church,  and 
firmly  as  he  believed  that  to  be  separate  from  the  Church  was  to 


33  Sins  after  Baptism  were  atoned  in  the  early  Church  by  the  Exomo- 
logesisy — a public  confessioUj  with  tears,  fastings,  etc.,  of  greater  or  less  dura- 
tion, according  to  the  nature  of  the  offence.  It  was  probably  about  the  times 
of  Decius  that  the  distinction  of  flentes,  audientcSy  genuflectentesy  and  con- 
sistcntes  grew  up.  See  Bingham’s  AntiquitieSy  Book  XVIII.  c.  i. 

34  S.  Cypr.  Ep.  liv.  17,  Pariss. 


239 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 


be  separate  from  Christ,  he  was  equally  well  assured  that  no 
peace  with  the  Church  would  stand  which  was  not  sanctioned 
by  the  Gospel.  It  is  the  Lord  alone  who  pardons ; the 

and  the 
Gospel, 


Lord  who  is  to  be  appeased.  Men  can  act,  in  such  and  the 


matters,  but  as  the  instrument  of  the  Lord.  Any 
judgment,  therefore,  or  any  absolution  apart  from  the  Lord’s 
revealed  will,  is  necessarily  good  for  nothing. 

These  counsels  and  exhortations  were  not  in  all  instances 
equally  successful.  One  Lucian,  a Confessor,  addressed  a letter 
to  Pope  Cyprian,”  and  through  him  to  all  Bishops, 
declaring  that  those  in  prison  had  given  a full  pardon  ^ o/^  the 
to  the  lapsed^  and  requiring  him  and  the  Clergy  gen- 
erally to  respect  their  decision  ; otherwise,  it  was  plainly  inti- 
mated, they  would  fall  under  the  displeasure  of  the  holy  Martyrs. 
This  seems  sufficiently  absurd.  Its  absurdity,  however,  did  not 
make  it  the  less  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  Church.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  troubles  which  continued  long  after  the  Mar- 
tyrs themselves  had  gone  peaceably  to  their  rest.  For  most  of 
these  men,  both  in  Africa,  and  in  Rome  where  their  conduct  had 
been  equally  objectionable,  were  brought  at  length  to  a more 
Christian  frame  of  mind.  Their  long  and  cruel  sufferings — 
many  of  them  being  slowly  starved  to  death  in  prison — proved 
a means  of  grace  to  them.  From  a letter  of  the  stout-hearted 
Lucian,  written  eight  days  after  this  punishment  had  begun,  we 
learn  that  sixteen  had  died,  and  others  were  quietly 

. , ^ ^ Their 

awaiting  their  end.  It  appears  from  the  same  epistle  edifying 
that  while  he  still  felt  it  his  duty  to  give  peace  to  those 
who  applied,  the  gift  was  coupled  with  the  condition  that  the 
recipients  should  plead  their  cause  and  make  confession  before 
the  Bishop.  A letter  from  Caldonius,  another  Confessor,  states 
still  more  clearly  the  necessity  of  compliance  with  this  reason- 
able condition. 

But  the  real  root  of  the  mischief  was  among  that  party  of 


35  S.  Cyprian,  De  Lapsis^  i6,  17. 

3®  S.  Cyprian.  Op.  Episi.  xvi.-xxi.  Pariss. 


240 


History  of  the  Church. 


Novatus 
and  his 
Party. 


Presbyters  in  Carthage,  who  had  so  strenuously  opposed  S. 

Cyprian's  election.  Of  these  the  chief  leader  was  one 
Novatus, 37  a Presbyter  in  bad  odor,  who  just  before 
the  persecution  had  been  accused  of  shocking  crimes, 
and  who  consequently  looked  forward  to  peace  and  the  resto- 
ration of  Cyprian  with  no  particular  favor.  With  him  were 
associated  the  great  body  of  the  lapsed  j many  of  whom  were 
Feiicis-  persons  of  wealth  and  consequence.  Felicissimus,  a 

simus.  factious  layman,  whom  in  some  way  or  other  he  got  to 

be  made  Deacon,  was  his  most  able  coadjutor.  By  the  intrigues 
of  these  men,  the  Carthaginian  Church  community  were  thrown 
into  confusion.  The  prospect  of  Cyprian's  return  to  the  city 
inspired  a general  panic.  When  the  Presbyters  who  remained 
faithful  to  their  Bishop  endeavored  in  compliance  with  his  in- 
structions to  carry  out  the  laws,  the  result  was  a rebellion. 
Schism  in  Felicissimus  and  his  party  openly  organized,  and,  pro- 
Carthage.  fj-Qm  one  wickedness  to  another,  at  length  put 

Cyprian  and  his  adherents  under  a ban  of  excommunication. 

By  such  acts,  however,  they  lost  their  hold  upon  that  numer- 
ous party  of  the  lapsed,  who  had  acted  with  them  more  from 
Self-con-  dislike  of  discipline  than  from  any  hearty  belief  in  the 
demned.  goodiiess  of  their  cause.  Cyprian  promptly  availed 
himself  of  the  blunder  they  had  committed.  He  declared  them 
excommunicated,  not  by  any  act  of  his,  but  by  their  own  volun- 
tary secession.  It  was  no  longer  possible,  then,  to  choose  be- 
tween two  parties  in  the  Church.  Men  must  cast  in  their  lot 
with  one  or  other  of  two  separate  communions.  Under  these 
circumstances  many  returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  The 
rest  having  procured  the  ordination  of  Fortunatus,  one 
of  the  five  Presbyters,  as  their  Bishop,  sent  Felicissi- 
mus over  to  Rome ; where  the  dominant  party,  being  long  ago 


Goes  to 
Rome. 


37  The  moral  character  of  this  man  is  painted  by  S.  Cyprian  in  the  black- 
est colors ; so  much  so  that  many  have  questioned  the  truth  of  the  portrait. 
It  is  characteristic,  however,  of  times  of  great  religious  fervor,  that  the  good 
are  very  good,  and  the  bad  are  very  bad.  Medium  characters  do  not  flourish 
at  such  periods.  Epistol.  xlviii.  Pariss. 


241 


Carthage  a7td  S.  Cyprian. 

committed  to  the  cause  of  an  indulgent  discipline,  and  being 
harassed  at  that  period  by  the  austere  faction  of  Novatianus, 
might  naturally  be  expected  to  receive  them  with  some  favor. 
At  all  events,  Felicissimus  was  not  sparing  of  threats,  as  well  as 
protestations.  And  Cornelius,  the  Roman  Bishop,  was  comeiius 
not  very  decided. He  was,  perhaps,  unwilling  to 
drive  so  influential  a body  as  these  African  schismatics  into  the 
already  powerful  ranks  of  the  opposition  party  in  Rome.  He 
hesitated  for  some  time.  But  Cyprian  was  armed  for  all  emer- 
gencies. Sounding  one  of  his  vigorous  trumpet-blasts^  into  the 
ears  of  the  wavering  Roman  Council,  he  brought  them  at  length 
to  a satisfactory  decision.  Felicissimus  was  rejected,  and  had 
thenceforward  to  look  for  countenance  elsewhere. 

Novatus  in  like  manner  betook  himself  to  Rome.  There  he 
fell  in  with  the  more  famous  Novatianus : a man  of  learning 
and  orthodoxy,  but  of  questionable  morals,  who,  at  Novato 
the  head  of  a faction  consisting  mainly  of  Confessors, 
had  been  a rival  candidate  to  Cornelius  for  the  Episcopal  chair ; 
but  failing  of  the  election,  had  managed  to  procure  consecra- 
tion in  a surreptitious  way.^°  This  man  stood  on  a higher  and 
stronger  platform  than  the  Carthaginian,  leaders.  His  puritan 
object,  as  he  contended,  was  the  purity  of  the  Church.  Scheme. 
He  would  keep  her  free  from  all  contamination.  Those  who 
had  fallen,  therefore,  in  times  of  persecution,  or  those  who  had 
been  guilty  of  any  capital  sin,  were  to  remain  suspended  from 
communion  till  restored  by  Christ  himself  at  the  Day  of  final 
Judgment.  With  these  views  Novatus  accorded  more  readily 

3®  EpistoL  liv.  2.  39  Cyp.  EpistoL  liv.  Pariss. 

4°  It  is  said  that  he  invited  three  Bishops  to  his  house,  feasted,  flattered, 
made  them  drunk,  and  so  procured  consecration.  In  this  case,  as  in  those  of 
Felicissimus  and  Fortunatus,  the  numerosity  of  the  Episcopate  had  an  attend- 
ant evil,  that  ordination  could  sometimes  be  had  in  violation  of  the  canons. 
The  Bishops  of  the  smaller  Sees  were  not  always  shining  lights.  The  metro- 
politan system,  therefore,  and  the  practice  of  consecrating  Bishops,  and  some- 
times Presbyters,  only  in  Council,  was  a necessary  safeguard.  In  the  case  of 
Fortunatus,  the  consecration  seems  to  have  been  performed  by  Privatus,  an 
excommunicated  Bishop.  EpistoL  liv.  ii. 

I I 


242 


History  of  the  Church. 


Two 

Leaders, 


In  Rome 
and 

Carthage, 


than  might  have  been  expected  from  his  previous  career.  He 
had  doubtless  learned  by  this  time,  from  his  experience 
as  a party-leader,  that  discipline  is  as  necessary  to  keep 
men  out  of  the  Church,  as  to  keep  them  in.  He  readily  coop- 
erated with  Novatianus,  therefore,  in  the  erection  of  a new  and 
severe  system  of  ecclesiastical  communion. 

The  Sect  was  soon  abandoned,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  faith- 
ful both  in  Rome  and  Carthage,  by  most  of  the  Confessors; 

Cyprian,  by  his  zealous  but  charitable  letters  to  these 
misguided  men,  having  done  much  to  dispel  their 
delusion. It  gained  recruits,  however,  in  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Declaring  open  war  upon  Cyprian  and  Corne- 
lius, and  spreading  calumnies  against  them  in  all  directions,  the 
leaders  plied  briskly  between  Italy  and  North  Africa,  and  in  the 
latter  country  especially  made  a permanent  lodgment.  One 
Maximus  seems  to  have  acted  as  their  Bishop  in  Carthage.  But 
of  him,  as  of  Fortunatus,  little  beyond  the  name  is  known. 

Like  Montanism,  from  the  lees  of  which  heresy  it  drew  much 
of  its  sourness  and  strength,  Novatianism  had  not  a little  in 
common  with  Catholic  Christianity.  The  Puritan 
severity,  which  was  its  chief  point  of  difference,  could 
plead  the  sanction  of  high  names  in  the  Church,  and  was  popular 
with  a large  party  of  orthodox  believers,  especially  in  Rome. 
It  was  one  of  the  points,  in  fact,  in  which  philosophy  and 
religion  were  at  variance.  That  all  sins  are  equals  and  that  a 
grave  7nan  ought  to  be  immovable^^^  were  Stoic  maxims  which  had 
greater  weight  with  such  men  as  Tatian,  Hippolytus,  and  Nova- 
tian  than  the  evangelic  precepts  of  mercy  and  forgive- 
ness. In  spite  of  the  taint  of  schism,  therefore,  the 
followers  of  this  Sect  were  numerous  and  respectable, 
both  in  the  East  and  West ; and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that, 
partly  by  virtue  of  rigorous  discipline,  partly  by  the  close  watch 

The  letters  of  Cyprian,  Cornelius,  and  the  Confessors,  are  found  in 
Cyprian’s  works.  Epistol.  xl.  et  ss.  Pariss. 

42  S.  Cypr.  Epistol,  Iv.  13, — an  admirable  expose  of  the  fallacies  of  this 
harsh  philosophy. 


In  other 
Places. 


Nature 
of  the 
Schism, 


243 


Carthage  and  S.  Cyprian. 

which  a small  society  can  keep  upon  its  members,  and  still  more 
from  the  reformatory  influence  of  new  scenes,  new  associations, 
and  a newly  awakened  sense  of  responsibility,  they  continued 
for  some  time  an  orderly,  sedate,  and  highly  influential  body/^ 
Their  creed  was  orthodox,  except  on  the  point  of  absolution. 
They  indulged,  however,  an  intensely  bitter  feeling  against  the 
Church.  They  regarded  her  as  a synagogue  of  Jeze-  Bitter. 
bels,  Balaams,  and  Iscariots ; and  when  they  made 
proselytes  from  the  apostate^*  communion,  they  in  all  cases 
caused  them  to  be  rebaptized. 

. On  the  other  hand,  the  secession  of  so  many  troublesome 
men,  with  the  lull  of  persecution  which  followed  the  death  of 
Decius,  gave  Cyprian  and  his  worthy  colleague.  Cor- 
nelius  of  Rome,  an  opportunity  to  gain  ground  in  the  restored^ 

A.D. 251-253. 

restoration  of  Church  discipline.  Some  of  the  lapsed 
were  reconciled  fully  to  the  Church.  Others  were  put  on 
penance.  Indulgence  was  provided  for  particular  emergen- 
cies.^^ Numerous  Councils  were  held  ; and  as  disorders  similar 
to  those  of  Rome  and  Carthage  were  more  or  less  prevalent  in 
other  portions  of  the  Church,  a discipline  sufflciently  uniform 
in  its  character  was  everywhere  matured,  systematized,  and  grad- 
ually established. 

43  Novatian  stands  high  among  orthodox  writers.  Acesius,  a Novatian 
Bishop,  was  among  those  summoned  by  Constantine  to  the  Council  of  Nice. 
See  Socrates,  Ecdes.  Hist.  i.  10;  v.  10.  Novatian’s  Liber  de  Trinitate  is 
to  be  found  in  Tertulliate s Works ^ Nic.  Rigalt.  1689. 

44  So  long  as  the  discipline  of  the  Church  remained  a real  thing,  indul- 
gences— such  as  remission  or  shortening  of  the  time  of  public  penance — were 
indispensable.  In  later  times  discipline  became  a nullity ; and  indulgences, 
being  no  longer  applicable  to  their  original  use,  were  transferred  to  such  things 
as  absolving  men  from  vows  hastily  assumed ; or  by  a most  monstrous  abuse, 
to  the  release  of  souls  from  purgatorial  pains.  In  the  early  Church  the  term 
meant  simply  admission  to  communioti  (of  those  who  seemed  truly  penitent) 
before  the  term  of  suspension  from  communion  had  canonically  expired. 
The  power  of  remission  was  with  the  Bishop  and  Presbyters ; but  in  the  African 
Church,  and  more  or  less  in  the  Church  generally,  the  people  were  allowed  a 
voice  in  the  matter. 


244 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  III. 

DECIAN  TIMES. 

The  Decian  persecution,  with  the  innumerable  calamities  that 
followed,  extending  as  it  did  into  all  parts  of  the  Roman 
A Great  Empire,  was  a time  of  no  ordinary  terror : it  was 
eminently  an  epoch  in  Church  History,  a crisis,  a 
day  of  judgment;  a season  of  such  universal  sifting  and  proba- 
tion as  Christians  had  not  known  in  any  other  period  of  their 
varied  and  calamitous  experience. 

It  has  been  mentioned  incidentally  in  the  preceding  chapter 
of  this  Book,  that  the  approach  of  persecution  had  been  heralded 
^ ^ by  mysterious  forebodings  or  presentiments  upon  the 

souls  of  men.  In  one  of  the  many  visions  thus  occur- 
ing,""  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  desolating  storm,’*  there 
was  a voice  from  Heaven  commanding  the  people  to  pray ; but 
when  they  began  to  utter  their  petitions  their  voices  jangled  and 
their  hearts  were  out  of  tune,  and  no  true  prayer  arose  because 
^ there  was  no  harmony.  In  another  dream,  a venerable 

Householder  was  seen  sitting,  with  a young  man  on  his 
right  hand  and  another  on  his  left.  The  one  on  the  right  sat 
grave  and  pensive,  and  not  without  a shade  of  sorrowful  indig- 
nation. The  other  on  the  left  was  triumphant  and  exultant; 
and  held  in  his  hand  a net,  which  with  a wanton  and  wicked 
leer  he  threatened  continually  to  cast  over  the  heads  of  the 
bystanders.  Dreams  of  this  kind  were  but  echoes  of  waking 
thoughts,  and  belonged  to  healthy  minds  like  that  of  S.  Cyprian. 
They  sprang  from  a deep  conviction  of  some  judgment  needed  ; 


* S.  Cypr.  Epistol.  vii.  Pariss. 


Decian  Times.  245 

they  pointed  to  nothing  more  than  some  judgment  coming. 
But  when  the  expected  crisis,  had  actually  arrived,  the 

* •'  The  co7mng 

terrors  of  the  times  naturally  hurried  the  mind  forward 
from  particular  passing  judgments  to  that  great  and 
anti-typal  judgment  which  is  to  be  the  end  of  all.  The  near- 
ness of  the  Lord’s  coming  was  at  all  times  vividly  realized  by  the 
faith  of  the  early  Church.  The  very  posture  of  their  worship, 
as  they  stood  with  head  erect,  arms  outstretched,  and  eyes  look- 
ing eagerly  forward,  was  a constant  reminder  to  them  of  this 
awful  expectation.*  But  in  times  of  such  complicated  horrors  as 
those  under  Decius  and  his  successors,  when  the  very  Signs 
Martyrs  scandalized  the  Church ; when  even  Confes- 
sion  in  some  cases  was  but  a swelling,  irreverential,  and  insolent 
bravado ; when  torments  in  other  cases  were  torments  without 
end,  without  issue,  without  solace, — torments  which  kept  the 
crown  at  a tantalizing  distance,  making  the  heart  sick  while 
they  excruciated  the  body,  so  that  if  any  one  escaped  and 
reaped  the  reward  of  glory,  it  was  not  by  termination  of  the 
torture,  but  by  mere  alacrity  in  dying; when,  in  the  civil 
world,  ‘‘every  instant  of  time  was  marked,  every  in  the 
province  of  the  Roman  world  was  afflicted,  by  barbar- 
ous  invaders  and  military  tyrants,  and  the  ruined  empire  seemed 
to  approach  the  last  and  fatal  moment  of  its  dissolution  ; ” when, 
in  the  natural  world,  “ there  were  inundations,  earth-  . , 

zn  the 

quakes,  preternatural  darkness,  with  a long  and  gen- 
eral  famine,  and  a furious  plague,  depopulating  whole 
towns,  and  consuming  according  to  a moderate  calculation  the 
moiety  of  the  human  species:”^  at  such  periods  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  common  fear  or  hope,  which  ever  it  might 
be,  became  occasionally  an  enthusiastic  and  perhaps  dangerous 
delusion. 

Yet,  even  in  the  worst  cases,  this  confident  expectation  of 

* See  the  figures  of  “ praying  men  and  women,”  in  Ferret,  Cateconibes  de 
Rome^  etc. 

3 S.  Cypr.  EpistoL  vii.  Pariss, 

4 Gibbon’s  Decline  and  Fally  etc.  vol,  i.  ch.  x. 


2 4-6  History  of  the  Church. 

the  end  was  far  less  irrational  than  has  sometimes  been  pre- 
Eariy  tended.  A mere  fatalist  may  sneer  at  such  a faith. ^ 
It  may  awaken  the  smiles  of  those  who  suppose  the 
justified,  world  to  be  governed  only  by  mathematically  fixed 
laws.  But  the  early  Christian  conceived  of  no  such  mechan- 
ism of  fate.  He  had  faith  in  a living  God.  He  believed 
in  One  who  hears  and  answers  prayer.  But  if  the  supreme 
Governor  and  Controller  really  answers  prayer,  it  follows  that 
the  duration  of  human  life,  the  vicissitudes  of  empire,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  world,  the  chances  and  changes  of  all  earthly  things, 
are  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word  precarious  or  contingent : 
the  shadow  of  final  doom  mav  be  brought  backward  or  carried 
forward  on  the  dial-plate  of  time,  with  a freedom  as  absolute, 
as  to  a mere  fatalist  philosophy  it  is  inconceivable  and  impos- 
sible. Jonah  was  a true  prophet,  though  Nineveh's  forty  days 
passed  without  witnessing  its  fall. 

The  early  Christian,  indeed,  did  not  theorize  as  yet  upon  this 
momentous  subject.  He  believed,  as  the  Scriptures  taught  him, 
in  a Saviour  and  a Judge  always  near  at  hand.  He 

The  Judge  Joy 

ahvays  was  on  the  lookout  for  a Judgment  surely  coming,  ever 

near,  ...  , , 

impending,  yet  capable  of  suspension  or  even  of  pro- 
tracted, and  indefinite  delay.  The  consequence  was  that  with 
each  successive  appearance  of  the  portents  of  that  Judgment, 
he  lifted  up  his  head ; with  a mixed  feeling,  like  that  of  S.  Paul 
when  he  was  in  a strait  betwixt  two  wishes,^  he  partly  hoped  and 
prayed  for  it,  yet,  as  taught  by  the  Church  in  her  petitions  pro 
mora  finis,  did  his  utmost  by  prayer  and  penitence  to  stay  or  to 
Seeming  ^vert  it ; and  so,  when  the  signs"  seemed  to  fail, 
{hfsignVo/'^^^'^  a lesser  crisis  passed  without  manifesting  the 
Judgment,  gj-gat  and  Consummating  Judgment,  he  was  in  no  way 
disappointed,  nor  was  his  faith  at  all  shaken.  A man,  who  having 

5 Gibbon  sneers  impartially  at  the  common  belief  of  the  Church,  and  at 
the  promise,  on  which  that  belief  was  founded.  The  promise  was  uttered, 
however,  not  to  inform  men  of  the  time  when  judgment  should  come,  but  that 
they  might  be  ahvays  on  the  lookout  for  that  time.  S.  Matt.  xxv.  13. 

^ Philipp,  i.  23,  24. 


Decian  Times. 


247 


never  seen  the  sunshine,  yet  confidently  expects  it,  might  reason- 
ably mistake  the  dawn  for  the  complete  and  perfect  day.  One 
who  has  never  witnessed  death,  might  anticipate  its  approach  in 
each  momentary  swoon.  On  the  same  principle,  the  believer  of 
early  times  was  not  irrational  in  looking  upon  each  successive 
trial  as  a fulfilment  of  Prophecy ; he  was  only  mistaken  as  to  the 
finality  of  that  fulfilment.  He  acted  merely  on  that  principle 
of  common-sense,  by  which  knowing  the  end  to  be  certain 
somewhere,  yet  not  knowing  where,  we  look  for  it  as  confidently 
at  the  turn  of  a long  lane,  as  at  its  actual  termination. 

To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  the  early  Christian  did  not 
base  his  hope  or  fear  upon  arithmetical  calculations.  He  was 
influenced  more  by  ‘^the  signs  of  the  times.  As  to 

^ Numbers 

the  numbers  of  days  or  months  or  years  in  the  Ian-  viewed  as 

^ Symbols, 

guage  of  Prophecy,  he  regarded  them  as  symbols  of 
God's  time,  not  rigid  definitions.  But  it  is  of  the  nature  of 
symbols — even,  it  may  be  said,  of  mathematical  symbols,  and 
therefore  much  more  of  spiritual — that  they  admit  within  their 
range  an  almost  infinite  variety  of  particular  applications. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression : the  persecution  under 
Decius  was  common  to  all  the  Churches.  Among  its  princi- 
pal Martyrs  was  Alexander,  the  venerable  Bishop  of  particular 
Jerusalem.  Having  borne  his  testimony  at  the  tri- 
bunal,  he  was  tortured  and  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  peace- 
fully expired.  Babylas,®  Bishop  of  Antioch,  won  his  crown  in 
like  manner.  Eudaemon,  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  lapsed  from  the 
Faith ; but  Pionius,  one  of  his  Presbyters,  was  crucified  and  burnt. 
In  Ephesus,  Maximus  was  one  of  the  earliest  victims.  In  all 
places,  many  fled  into  the  rural  districts,  or  took  refuge  in  caves 
and  solitary  wilds.  Among  these  were  seven  youths  of  p^e  Seven 
Ephesus,  whose  bodies,  found  many  years  after  in  a 
cavern,  gave  rise  to  the  celebrated  legend  of  the  Seven  Sleepers. 

7 Diem  ultimum  et  occultum,  nec  ulli  prceter  Patri  notum^  et  tamen 
ngnis  atque  portentis^  et  concussionibus  elementorum  . . . praenotatum. 
Tertul.  De  Res.  Carnis^  22 ; Philastr.  De  Hceres.  cvii. 

® Cave’s  Lives  of  the  Fathers,  vol.  i. 


248 


History  of  the  Church. 


the 
Wonder-- 
worker, 


His 

Miracles. 


S.  Gregory,  the  renowned  Bishop  of  Neo-Caesarea  in  Pontiis, 
surnamed  Thaumaturgus  for  his  wonderful  works,  was  admon- 
Gregory  ished  by  a vision  to  decline  the  persecution,  and 
retired  with  the  majority  of  his  flock  into  a wilderness. 
He  was  a disciple  of  Origen,  in  whose  school  at 
Caesarea  he  studied  for  five  years,  and  for  whom  he  ever  after- 
wards retained  the  profoundest  veneration.  The  miracles 
related  of  him  were  committed  to  writing  about  a century  after 
his  decease  by  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and  seem  to  have  been  col- 
lected chiefly  from  the  memory  of  the  aged  grandmother  of  the 
latter.^  The  tradition  of  them,  therefore,  had  abundance  of 
time  to  grow.  His  presence,  it  is  said,  dispossessed 
a heathen  shrine  of  the  daemon  that  held  it ; he  stayed 
by  his  prayers  a pestilence  that  broke  out  among  the  people  of 
Neo-Caesarea ; he  quelled  the  overflowing  of  the  river  Lycus ; 
when  he  was  searched  for  in  the  woods,  in  which  he  and  his 
companions  were  hidden  during  the  persecution,  he  was  mirac- 
ulously veiled  from  the  eyes  of  the  officers.  In  consequence  of 
these  and  similar  wonders,  he  was  called  among  the  Gentiles  a 
second  Moses.  His  greatest  work,  that  he  found  but  seventeen 
Christians  in  his  diocese  when  appointed  to  it,  and  left  but 
seventeen  unconverted  heathen,  rests,  it  is  said,  upon  his  dying 
testimony.  Stories  of  this  kind  require  to  be  supported  by  con- 
temporaneous witnesses.  That  Gregory,  however,  was  a man 
of  prayer  and  of  extraordinary  gifts,  and  that  a pecu- 
liar Divine  blessing  rested  upon  his  labors,  seems  to 
have  been  the  belief  of  the  whole  early  Church ; a belief  the 
more  entitled  to  credit,  that,  belonging  as  he  did  to  the  school 
of  an  excommunicated  teacher,*®  he  was  hardly  the  person  that 
would  have  been  selected  to  make  a hero  of,  unless  he  had  had 


His 

Success. 


9 He  died  about  the  year  270,  or  a little  after.  See  Cave’s  Lives  of  the 
Fathers^  vol.  i. ; and  Greg.  Nyss.  in  Vit,  Greg.  Thaum. 

'o  His  own  orthodoxy  has  been  impeached ; and  is  defensible  only  on  the 
ground  that  in  his  controversy  with  Hilian  he  spoke  ov  (hyjuaTiKO)^^  aXV 
ayo)vtaTiK(bc ; using  words  in  the  heat  of  disputation  which  are  not  to  be 
taken  to  the  letter. 


Decian  Times. 


249 


more  than  a common  claim  to  such  distinction.  After  the  per- 
secution was  over,  he  caused  the  festivals  of  the  martyrs  to  be 
celebrated  with  increased  solemnity ; and  many  heathen  there- 
by were  attracted  to  the  Church. 

In  Alexandria,  Dionysius  the  Great,  another  of  Origen’s  dis- 
ciples, was  snatched  from  martyrdom  by  the  loving  officiousness 
of  his  friends.  His  record  of  his  escape,  and  his  testi- 

^ Dionysius 

mony  to  the  courage  and  cruel  sufferings  of  the  mar- 
tyrs,  have  been  preserved  in  the  pages  of  Eusebius.” 

The  persecution,  it  appears,  did  not  begin  as  elsewhere  with  the 
action  of  the  Emperor.  It  was  an  outbreak  of  popular  fanaticism 
excited  by  a man  who  pretended  to  be  a prophet,  and  preceded 
the  imperial  edict  by  about  one  year.  It  raged  with  such  fury 
that  Alexandria  had  the  appearance  of  a city  taken  by  storm. 

But  in  Egypt,  as  elsewhere,  innumerable  believers  sought 
safety  in  retreat.  Some  fled  into  the  desert ; and  many  of 
these,  among  whom  the  aged  Bishop  of  Cheraemon 

, * , T . , Anchorites, 

and  his  wife  are  particularly  mentioned,  were  never 
heard  of  more.  Some  were  captured  by  predatory  tribes.  The 
greater  part  perished  of  hunger  and  exposure.  The  pious  feel- 
ing that  God  was  everywhere,  as  near  to  the  believer 
in  solitude  as  in  the  assemblies  of  the  faithful ; that 
the  lack  of  sacraments  and  priestly  ministrations 
would  prove  no  loss,  where  the  living  sacrifice  of  a contrite 
heart  and  humble  spirit  was  faithfully  presented  the  belief,  in 
short,  that  in  every  place  there  could  be  a true  and  spiritual 
worship,  led  many  of  these  wanderers  to  persist  in  their  retreat. 
Thus,  while  the  general  tendency  of  the  Church  was  towards 
the  ideal  of  social  or  corporate  religion,  there  sprang  up  a 
strong  propulsion  towards  the  opposite  extreme.  The  princi- 
ple of  individualism  was  mightily  asserted.  Paulus,  a youth 
of  twenty-three  years  of  age,  afterwards  known  as  soi'tary 
'^prince  of  the  anchorites,'^  found  solitude  so  refresh-  and  social 
ing  that  he  remained  a contented  dweller  in  the  wilder- 
ness to  the  venerable  age  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  years. 

**  Euseb.  Eccles.  History^  vi.  40-42. 

II* 


God 

every- 

where. 


*2  S.  Cypr.  EpistoL  Ixxvi.  4. 


250 


History  of  the  Church. 


This  impulse  to  hermit-life  was  the  beginning  of  a great  and 
living  movement.  Involving  maxims  remarkably  at  variance 
with  what  have  been  called  the  hierarchical  tendencies  of  that 
day,  it  is  wonderful  that  Church  rulers  regarded  it  with  so  much 
favor  as  they  did.  It  shows  a liberality,  on  their  part,  and  a 
breadth  and  facility  of  charitable  construction,  for  which  in 
modern  times  they  have  received  hardly  sufficient  credit. 

In  Asia  Proper,  Lycia,  Pamphylia,  Bithynia,  Capadocia, 
Crete,  Cyprus,  Gaul,  there  were  numerous  victims.  The  army. 
Military  also,  as  was  commou  in  persecutions,  presented  its 
Martyrs,  Qf  iHustrious  witnesses.  On  one  occasion,  when 

a Christian  of  Alexandria  stood  trembling  before  the  judge  and 
seemed  to  waver  in  his  confession,  the  soldiers  who  stood 
around  indignantly  frowned  upon  him,*^  and  then  by  a sudden 
impulse  ran  up  to  the  tribunal  and  declared  themselves  be- 
lievers. 

As  already  intimated,  the  persecution,  ceasing  for  awhile 
on  the  death  of  Decius,  was  followed  by  a great  and  terrible 
plague.  Such  pestilences  are  common  in  ancient  his- 
tory, and  so  far  as  their  horrors  are  concerned,  noth- 
ing can  be  added  to  the  eloquence  and  pathos  of 
contemporary  descriptions.  But  there  is  one  feature  of  such 
visitations,  which  none  of  the  classic  writers  seem  ever  to  have 
witnessed.'  The  heathen  were  courageous  against  flesh  and 
blood.  Against  the  ghostly  presence  of  the  pestilence  that 
walketh  in  darkness  they  were  utterly  impotent.  No  sense  of 
honor,  no  ties  of  blood,  no  obligations  of  religion  could  nerve 
them  to  their  duty.  Those  smitten  by  the  destroyer 
among  the  were  left  uncared  for  while  living,  and  unburied  when 
dead.  The  claims  of  humanity  were  forgotten.  All 
who  had  any  place  to  flee  to  consulted  their  own  safety  and 
fled.  Those  who  alone  remained  were  either  poverty-stricken 
wretches  that  could  not  get  away,  or  fiends  in  human  shape 
who  battened  upon  the  common  misery,  and  hovered  like 

*3  The  subject  of  this  paragraph  is  further  treated  in  chap.  vi.  of  this  Book, 
towards  the  end.  ^^Euseb.  vi.  41. 


Great 
Plague^ 
A.D.  252, 


Decian  Times. 


25^ 


plague-flies  around  the  couches  of  the  dying  and  the  dead. 
Such  was  the  spectacle  that  heathenism  presented.  Christianity 
first  taught  men  to  struggle  manfully  and  successfully  with  the 
invisible  foe.  While  the  idolaters  were  scattering  in  all  direc- 
tions in  irremediable  panic,  S.  Cyprian  in  Carthage,  Christian 
S.  Dionysius  in  Alexandria,  and  other  holy  men  in 
many  other  places,  were  rallying  the  faithful  to  a warfare  more 
heroic,  and  a triumph  more  truly  glorious,  than  poet  or  his- 
torian had  ever  as  yet  recorded. 

In  Alexandria,  the  heathen,  considering  the  pestilence  more 
terrific  than  any  other  terror  and  more  afflictive  than  any  other 
affliction,  an  evil  beyond  all  hope,"^  resigned  them-  piaguein 
selves  to  it  in  uncontrollable  dismay.  Such  panics 
added  of  course  to  the  number  of  the  victims.  The  Christians, 
now  disciplined  by  persecution,  struggled  more  courageously 
and  in  consequence  suffered  less.  They  had  learned  of  late  to 
take  pleasure  in  tribulations.  As  no  spot  in  Egypt  had  been  a 
stranger  to  their  sorrows,  so  none  was  left  unhallowed  by  tokens 
of  the  joy  of  their  festival  occasions.  To  men  thus  trained 
to  cheerfulness  of  spirit,  the  pestilence  came,  ‘‘no  less  than 
other  events,  as  a school  of  discipline  and  probation.’*  It  gave 
them  an  opportunity  to  become,  in  a sense  not  realized  before, 
“ the  off-scourings  of  all  men.”  Regarding  death  in  care  o/ 
such  a cause  “as  little  inferior  to  martyrdom,”  they 
paid  every  possible  attention  to  “ the  bodies  of  the  saints  ; they 
laid  them  on  their  bosoms,  purged  their  eyes,  closed  their 
mouths,  composed  their  limbs,  prepared  them  decently  for 
burial,  and  calmly  awaited  the  time  when  they  themselves 
should  receive  the  same  kind  offices  from  others.”  Similar 
charities  were  extended  to  the  heathen.  And  though 
the  latter  were  disposed  at  first  to  attribute  the  plagfue  overcome 

. T^.  . • . ^ with  Good, 

to  Divine  anger  against  the  Christians,  and  therefore 
to  renew  the  persecution,  yet  in  time  their  evil  was  overcome 
with  good,  and  the  chastened  Church  once  more  gained  favor 
with  her  foes. 


*5  Euseb.  vii.  22. 


252 


History  of  the  Church. 


In  Carthage,  Cyprian  awakened  the  same  spirit  by  trumpet- 
blasts  of  no  uncertain  sound.  The  Kingdom  of  God,  beloved, 
CyprMs  is  rapidly  approaching.  Terror  is  everywhere.  Lo  ! 
Appeals.  ^1^^  prison-walls  are  shaking,  the  floods  are  rising,  the 
tempest  is  descending,  the  world,  old  and  weary,  is  nodding  to  its 
fall.  But  as  the  world  passes  away,  the  reward  of  life  and  glory 
is  brought  nearer  to  us.  Paradise,  once  forfeited  but  now  recov- 
ered, is  opening  to  our  view. By  such  like  exhortations  he 
New  phase  cnlistcd  the  martyr-spirit,  now  chastened  and  purified, 
%artyr  i^  ^ work  uiore  charitable  and  useful,  though  it  was 
spirit.  hard  to  persuade  the  Africans  that  it  was  also  more 
glorious  than  martyrdom  itself.  He  enlarged  particularly  on 
their  duty  to  the  heathen.  The  persecution  had  been  an  excel- 
lent school  of  patience.  The  pestilence  could  teach  them  a 
lesson  of  beneficence  and  mercy.  It  was  an  opportunity,  in 
short,  to  show  themselves  children  of  Him  who  maketh  His  sun 
to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,'^  and  sendeth  rain  on  the 
just  and  on  the  unjust. 

The  plague  raged  everywhere,  and  everywhere  the  Christians 
pursued  the  same  course.  The  wars,  famines,  and  disorders  which 
Wars  and  preceded  or  accompanied  this  calamity  appealed  in 
Famines,  another  form  to  the  charity  of  the  faithful.  The  Nu- 
midian  Church,  impoverished  by  Barbarian  invaders,  was  unable 
to  redeem  its  members  taken  captive.  The  Carthaginians,  though 
in  little  better  plight,  came  up  generously  to  their  aid ; and, 
having  made  a collection  of  about  one  hundred  thousand  ses- 
tertia,*®  sent  it  with  a list  of  the  names  of  the  donors,  that  these 
might  be  duly  remembered  in  the  prayers  of  the  grateful  recipi- 
christian  their  bounty.  This  was  done  ‘^not  as  a matter 

Chanty.  ^j^^j-ity,  but  rather  of  religious  obligation^*;  fora 
member  of  Christ  taken  captive  was  regarded  as  God’s  temple 
in  danger  of  defilement. In  other  parts  of  the  Empire  there 

S.  Cyprian.  De  Mortalitate.  *7  Vit.  S.  Cypr,  per  Pontium  Diac.  c.  9. 

About  four  thousand  dollars ; considering,  however,  the  greater  value 
of  money  in  those  days,  it  was  equivalent  to  a much  larger  sum. 

*9  S.  Cyprian.  Epistol,  lix.  Pariss. 


Decian  Times. 


253 

were  similar  claims  similarly  met.  The  terrible  Goths,  in  bat- 
tling with  whom  Decius  and  his  army  ignominiously 
perished  the  adventurous  Franks,  whose  ravages  ex- 
tended from  the  Rhine  to  the  south  of  Spain  and  the  provinces 
of  Mauritania;  the  Alemanni,  who  on  the  death  of  Decius 
flouted  their  victorious  banners  in  the  face  of  the  proud  mistress 
of  the  world;  and  finally  the  Persians,  who  eventually  pene- 
trated to  Antioch  and  sacked  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor : all  these 
were  making  prisoners  on  every  side ; and  to  redeem  her  share 
of  the  captives  was  a formidable  addition  to  the  bur-  Ransom  of 
dens  of  the  Church.  On  the  other  hand,  the  light  of 
the  Gospel  was  not  lost  in  the  darkness  of  Barbarian  invasion. 
The  Christian  captives  in  many  cases  proved  to  be  truly  ‘ ‘ am- 
bassadors in  bonds.’* 

Under  Gallus,  the  successor  of  Decius,  the  persecution  was 
renewed ; and  after  a respite  of  three  or  four  years,  occasioned 
by  his  death,  it  was  taken  up  again  in  a more  system-  caiius, 
atic  way  and  with  greater  determination  by  the  Empe- 
ror  Valerian. In  preparation  for  these  new  trials,  valerian, 
Cyprian,  with  the  concurrence  of  his  Council,  granted  *53-259- 
an  indulgence  to  the  lapsed,  remitting  what  remained  /v,.. 
of  their  term  of  public  penance.  In  Rome,  Carthage, 
and  Antioch,  Novatianism  at  this  period  was  formally  con- 
demned. 

Cornelius  the  Roman  Bishop  suffered  martyrdom  under 
Gallus.  About  the  same  time  Origen  was  released  from  the 
burden  of  a troubled  and  laborious  existence;  a man  ^ 
whose  indefatigable  industry  during  life  was  rivalled  and  Lucius, 
only  by  the  wretched  tenacity  of  hatred,  which  in  less 
charitable  ages  that  came  after  dogged  his  memory  and  his  name. 
His  sufferings  in  the  Decian  times  were  of  the  most  suferings 
fearful  description.  For  many  days,  in  the  deepest 
recesses  of  a prison,  his  diminutive  and  spare  frame  was  stretched 


20  See  Gibbon’s  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  x. 
2*  See  chap.  iv.  of  this  Book. 


254 


History  of  the  Chtirch. 

to  the  distance  of  four  holes  on  the  rack/*  while  the  boon  of 
dying  for  the  Faith  was  cruelly  denied  him.  He  bore  up  nobly 
against  all  the  efforts  to  subdue  his  spirit ; but  not  long  after  his 
release  he  sank  under  the  injuries  he  had  received  in  prison. 
Stephen,  Lucius,  the  successor  of  Cornelius,  was  another  martyr 
A.D.253.  period.  After  a month’s  vacancy  of  his  See, 

Stephen,  a true  Roman  in  policy  and  in  birth,  was  elected  into 
his  place. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ROME  AND  THE  WEST. 

The  Roman  Church,  first  planted,  it  is  probable,  by  some  of  the 
Pentecostal  converts,  but  watered  by  the  doctrine  and  blood  of 
^ , y.  S.  Peter^  and  S.  Paul,  had  already  at  the  beginning  of 

Roman  the  second  century  acquired  a fame  proportioned  to 

Church.  r •\  1 I*  rrt 

the  dignity  of  the  place  and  its  pilgrimage.*  To  S. 
Ignatius  it  was  venerable  as  ‘^presiding  in  the  seat  of  the 
Romans.”  A more  solid  title  to  his  respect  was  its  forwardness 
in  the  grace  of  charity  / of  which  evangelic  virtue  the  fraternal 
epistle,  written  in  its  name  by  S.  Clement  to  the  disorderly 
Corinthians,  was  an  early  and  well-known  example. 

“ Euseb.  vi.  39 ; Huettii,  Origeniana,  lib.  i.  cap,  iv.  Origen  speaks  of 
his  own  body  as  corpus culum, — to  GUfidriov.  The  fifth  hole  on  the  rack  was 
the  measurement  of  a man  of  ordinary  size.  Origen’s  being  stretched,  there- 
fore, only  to  the  fourth  is  a proof  of  his  diminutive  stature. 

* According  to  Lactantius,  S.  Peter  came  to  Rome  during  the  reign  of 
Nero,  twenty-five  years  after  the  Ascension,  or  A.D.  58;  a much  more  probable 
account  than  the  story  of  his  journey  thither  just  after  the  conversion  of  Cor- 
nelius. See  L actant.  De  Mart.  Perse  cut.,  with  note  of  Baluz. 

® 'H  kKKkrjaia  tov  Qeov  jJ  napoLKOvaa  ^Vuiirjv — quae  Romae  peregrinatur — 
was  the  usual  title. 

3 S.  Ignat.  Ep.  ad  Roman.  The  phrase,  TrpoKadjfpevt]  Trjg  dydinjg^  is  trans- 
lated by  some  “ presiding  over  the  Agape,”  i.  e.,  as  Dollinger  renders  it,  ‘‘the 


Rome  and  the  West.  255 

The  order  of  succession  of  its  first  Bishops,  Linus,  Cletus, 
and  Clemens,  has  been  much  disputed. It  is  gen-  First 
erally  conceded  that  Clement  was  one  of  the  three, 
and  died  in  exile  somewhere  about  the  end  of  the  first  century. 

Through  the  second  century  the  Church  continued  to  in- 
crease, though  chiefly  among  the  Hellenic  part  of  the  popula- 
tion, s Its  position,  however,  in  the  great  queen  city  Eminent 
of  the  world  gave  it  potiorem  principalitatemp  as  S.  Position. 
Irenaeus  expressed  it ; enabling  it  to  take  the  lead  in  all  matters 
in  which  a leader  was  required,  and  making  it  a centre  of  tradi- 
tions from  every  quarter, — a rallying-point  to  the  Gentile,  as 
Jerusalem  for  awhile  had  been  to  the  Jewish  Christians.  It  was 
distinguished  for  missionary  zeal,  and  for  readiness  to  Mission- 
give  assistance  to  feebler  Churches.^  One  fruit  of  this 
we  have  seen  in  that  vigorous  scion,  the  Church  of  Africa  Pro- 
consularis : a Church  more  intensely  Latin,  and  destined  to  exert 
a greater  influence  upon  the  intellectual  tone  of  Latin  Christi- 
anity, than  the  great  mother  See  itself.  Hence,  to  Africa,  Rome 
was  whaf  Corinth  was  to  Achaia,  or  Ephesus  to  Asia,  Relation  to 
auctoritatas  prc^sto : the  most  accessible  living  witness 
to  apostolic  tradition.  In  the  eyes  of  Tertullian  and  S.  Cyprian, 

covenant  of  love,”  namely,  the  “ whole  Church.”  The  context  is  against 
any  such  rendering.  It  may  be  here  observed  that,  in  the  opening  of  his 
Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  to  the  Ephesians,  S.  Ignatius  stretches  language 
to  the  utmost  for  terms  of  praise.  If,  therefore,  Rome  had  possessed  any  such 
supremacy  as  modern  Rome  contends  for,  Ignatius  would  not  have  omitted  it, 
nor  would  he  have  lacked  suitable  language  in  which  to  express  it.  See  Pair, 
Apostol.  Oxon.  1838. 

4 Pearson.  Op.  Posthuma  : Gies.  \ 34,  n.  10.  The  order  of  succession 
here  given  has  the  authority  of  Irenaeus  apud  Euseb.  Eccles.  Hist.  v.  6. 
Observe,  that  while  the  ancients  universally  ascribe  the  foundation  of  the  Epis- 
copate of  Rome  to  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul,  Linus  is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  first 
Bishop  proper.  See  Euseb.  iv.  i ; Barrow,  on  the  Supremacy,  supp.  3,  4,  etc. 

5 Milman’s  Latin  Christianity. 

^This  and  similar  expressions  are  satisfactorily  explained  in  Gieseler, 
\ etc.  See  also  two  excellent  notes  on  the  subject  in  the  Oxford 

translation  of  Tertullian,  vol.  i.  p.  470;  also  Forbesii,  Instructiones  Histoi'ico- 
theologicce,  op.  tom.  ii.  lib.  xv.  xvi.  ^ Euseb.  iv.  23. 


256 


History  of  the  Church. 


it  was  a starting-point  of  the  unity  of  the  priesthood:^  a far- 
spreading  root  of  Catholic  Religion. 

Victor,  an  African  by  birth,  though  probably  of  Roman 
parentage,  was  the  first  who  showed  a disposition  to  pervert 
this  honorable  influence  into  an  encroachment  upon 
0/ Victor,  the  freedom  of  other  Churches.  He  was  rebuked, 

A.D.  196. 

however,  by  S.  Irenseus,  and  the  paschal  question,^  in 
which  he  interfered,  remained  unsettled  till  finally  disposed  of 
by  the  general  Council  at  Nicaea. 

But  Rome  was  not  merely  a centre ; it  was,  as  Tacitus  im- 
Resort  of  pHcs,  a scwcr  of  the  world ; and  falsehood  and  corrup- 
Heretics,  floated  thither  as  readily  as  truth. 

Simon  Magus,  it  is  said,  obtained  his  chief  triumphs  there, 
and  was  there  defeated  by  S.  Peter.  Marcion,  Valentinus,  and 
other  Gnostic  leaders,  found  a hearing  there.  At  a 

Simon,  ^ ° 

Marcion,  somewhat  later  period,  Montanus  and  the  new  proph- 

and  others.  , . 1 • 

ets  gained  an  influence  for  awhile  over  Victor  himself; 
and  thence  spread  their  doctrine,  rife  with  the  seeds  of  schism, 
through  all  the  Churches  of  the  West.  The  reaction  against 
Praxeas  Montanism  filled  the  city  with  another  swarm  of 
and  others,  Praxcas,  Thcodotus,  Artemon,  the  disciples 

of  Noetus,  Sabellius,  and  the  obscure  Judaizing  faction  which 


s In  the  interpretation  of  the  language  of  these  African  Fathers,  a mistake 
is  sometimes  made  by  inserting  the  definite  article  when  the  context  and  gen- 
eral sense  require  the  indefinite,  Rome,  or  Jerusalem,  or  any  other  apostolic 
Church  could  be  called  matrix  religionis  catholiccEy  etc. ; that  is,  a source,  a 
root.  For  the  claims  of  Jerusalem,  see  Gieseler,  ^ 94,  nn.  40,  41.  In  the 
Oratio  pro  Fidelibus,  in  the  Apostol.  Constitutions,  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem  is 
prayed  for  first,  then  the  Bishops  of  Rome  and  Antioch.  As  to  the  authority 
of  Rome  in  the  West,  De  Marca  (^De  Concord.  Sacerdot.  ei  Imper.  vii.  i) 
abundantly  proves  the  following  proposition : “ The  ancient  Church  appointed 
Bishops  over  the  chief  cities  of  every  region.  The  supreme  power  was  given 
to  the  Metropolitan  in  Council  with  his  brother  Bishops.  Therefore  the 
ecclesiastical  decisions  of  each  province  were  of  supreme  authority  and  could 
not  be  appealed  from.’’  This  opinion  is  combated,  but  to  very  little  purpose, 
by  Schelstrate  {£cc/es.  Afric.  sub  Primat.  etc.).  For  the  question  of  the 
Roman  Patriarchate,  see  Palmer,  on  the  Church,  part  vii.  ch.  vii. ; Bingham’s 
Antiquities,  ix.  v.  I.  9 Book  II.  ch.  ix. 


Rome  and  the  West. 


257 


hatched  the  famous  Clementina had  each  their  day  of  pros- 
perity in  Rome  ; and,  if  we  are  to  credit  the  statements  of 
Hippolytus,  the  taint  of  heresy  and  evil  living  struck  deep  into 
the  characters  of  the  Bishops  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus. 

Zephyrinus,  it  is  said,”  was  ignorant  of  sacred  learning — 
totally  illiterate,  in  fact ; and  therefore  surrendered  himself  to 
the  guidance  of  the  cunning  flatterer  Callistus.  This  Zephyrinus^ 
latter  had  been  a slave;  then  a species  of  banker,  a.d. 203. 
doing  business  largely  on  the  credit  of  an  indulgent  master ; 
then  a defaulter  ; and  finally  a volunteer  for  martyrdom,  having 
put  himself  in  this  way  of  restoring  his  broken  credit  by  dis- 
turbing public  worship  in  a Jewish  Synagogue  on  the  Sabbath. 
For  this  last  offence  he  was  scourged  by  order  of  the  Prefect  of 
the  City,  and  banished  to  the  Sardinian  mines.  Afterwards 
Marcia,  the  mistress  of  Commodus,  who,  as  we  have  Kindness 
seen,  was  favorable  to  the  Church,  procured  an  edict 
from  the  Emperor  for  the  recall  of  the  Christian  exiles ; and 
Callistus,  though  expressly  excepted  from  the  benefit  of  the 
decree,  managed  in  some  way  or  other  to  return  with  the  rest. 
All  this  happened  during  the  pontificate  of  Victor.  When 
Zephyrinus  succeeded  to  the  episcopal  chair,  he  saw  in  Callistus 
a useful  coadjutor  in  the  work  of  ‘‘oppressing  the  Clergy’’; 
put  him  in  charge  of  the  Cemetery,  a post  of  no  little  honor ; 
and  made  him  his  adviser  and  confidential  friend.  Under  his 
guidance  the  Bishop,  it  is  said,  played  a double  part.  ^ 

While  he  seemed  to  lend  an  ear  to  the  admonitions  of  Uono/  the 
Hippolytus  and  the  orthodox  side,  he  secretly  favored 
the  followers  of  the  heretic  Noetus.  But  on  this  latter  point 
there  was  no  little  difference  of  ooinion  among  the  Romans. 

See  Gies.  J 58 ; and  Book  II,  ch.  vii,  of  this  History. 

**  I merely  abridge  the  lively  narrative  of  Hippolytus  : Refut,  Omn, 
Hceres,  ix.  12;  an  account  valuable  for  the  insight  it  gives  into  the  state  of 
parties.  As  to  the  facts  of  the  case,  there  is  probably  some  exaggeration. 
See  Bunsen’s  Hippolytus ; Chr.  Wordsworth’s  Church  of  Rome  in  the  Third 
Century y with  reference  to  Hippolytus ; and  Dollinger,  Hippolytus  u,  Kal^ 
list  us. 


258  History  of  the  Church. 


Ditheists, 


Hippolytus  and  his  friends  not  only  failed  to  persuade  others 
that  their  Bishop  was  a heretic  and  a dissembler,  but 
soon  found  themselves  in  a hopeless  minority,  under 
the  nickname  of  Ditheists^''  or  believers  in  two  Gods. 

Callistus  succeeded  Zephyrinus,  and  Hippolytus  was  placed 
Caiiisius,  ill  ^ still  more  uncomfortable  position.  Sabellius,  in- 
A.D.  217.  deed,  was  excommunicated ; — a kind  of  peace-offering, 
it  was  thought,  to  the  austere  Bishop  of  Porto.  But  Callistus 
Sabellius  soon  showed  a leaning  to  some  other  shade  of  the  Pa- 
condemned.  hercsy.  To  this  he  added  lax  views  of  dis- 

cipline, with  novel  and  high  assumptions  of  sacerdotal  power. 
Laxity  There  was  no  sin,  he  said,  that  he  had  not  power  to 
imputed,  remit.  Not  even  for  mortal  sins  could  a Bishop  be 
deposed  from  his  office.  Not  only  might  married  men,  but 
even  the  twice  or  thrice  married,  be  admitted  to  Holy  Orders ; 
and  those  already  in  Orders  might  marry  without  sin.  When 
Hippolytus  remonstrated  against  all  this,  he  received  only  the 
Justified  by  ^nswer  of  the  Apostle,  ^‘Who  art  thou  that 

Callistus.  another  man*s  servant  ? **  Or,  if  that  did  not 

suffice  him,  he  was  reminded  of  ^^the  wheat  and  tares  which 
grow  up  together  until  the  harvest  or  of  the  net  that  draws 
in  fish  both  bad  and  good**;  or  of  ^^the  Ark  in  which  clean 
and  unclean  took  refuge  together**;  or,  in  short,  of  ^^many 
other  things  which  Callistus  interpreted  in  like  manner.** 

The  consequence  was,  according  to  Hippolytus,  that  people 
were  quite  bewitched  with  ‘‘the  sorcerer**  Callistus;  and, 
His  Views  though  secrct  crimes  and  incredible  immoralities*^ 
popular.  were  supposed  to  be  encouraged  by  him,  yet  “many 
clung  to  him  from  a conviction  that  affairs  were  in  the  main 
well  managed.**  Having  only  one  side  of  the  story,  and  that 
from  a witness  boiling  over  with  personal  and  theological  resent- 


*2  He  taught,  in  other  words,  the  Divinity  of  the  Son ; but,  in  maintain- 
ing His  Personality,  made  Him  subordinate  to  the  Father. 

*3  He  is  said  to  have  connived  at  concubinage  with  slaves,  child-murder, 
and  the  like,  on  the  part  of  wealthy  Roman  ladies : a charge  which  shows,  at 
least,  what  sort  of  scandals  could  be  circulated  and  believed. 


Rome  and  the  West.  259 

ment,  we  are  not  in  a position  to  judge,  at  the  present  day,  how 
far  they  were  mistaken  in  this  conclusion. 

The  truth  would  seem  to  be,  both  from  the  testimony  of 
Hippolytus  and  from  Tertullian's'^  angry  invectives, 
that  Rome  at  that  period  was  a great  battle-ground  ground. 
of  conflicting  principles.  Two  elements,  especially, 
contended  for  the  mastery  there.  The  Greek  spirit,  Elements. 
versatile,  subtle,  keen  in  doctrinal  disputation,  and  somewhat 
impracticable,  found  its  meet  exponent  in  Hippolytus  and  his 
party.  Against  this,  the  Latin  spirit,  the  genius  loci^  more  prac- 
tical, more  politic,  and  in  the  nicer  points  of  divinity  more 
ready  to  temporize,  was  beginning  to  make  head.  As  this  latter 
temper  prevailed,  the  result  was  a sort  of  Fabian  policy  Fabian 
in  the  polemics  of  the  day : a slowness  of  decision,  Policy. 
and  perhaps  of  apprehension, with  regard  to  conflicting  theo- 
ries, which  gave  Rome  in  the  long  run  a practical  advantage. 
The  more  impetuous  Greeks  might  chafe  at  the  temporary  favor 
shown  to  Marcion,  that  ^‘first-born  of  the  devil,**  as  he  was 
called  by  S.  Polycarp ; or  to  Montanus,  Praxeas,  Noetus,  and 
other  innovators  : but  this  very  chafing  enhanced  the  value  of 
the  decision  when  at  length  it  came,  and  caused  it  to  be  received 
with  more  heartfelt  satisfaction. 

In  questions  of  discipline,  the  same  practical  turn  of  mind 
disposed  the  mass  of  the  Roman  Clergy  to  an  indulgent  course 
and  the  stricter  party,  more  or  less  imbued  with  Mon-  Discipline 
tanistic  or  Encratite  notions,  fell  into  the  position  of 
a disappointed  faction.  The  vilest  sinners,  it  was  complained, 
might  hope  for  “ the  Church*s  peace.**  The  treatment  Question 
of  backsliders,  in  fact,  was  becoming  the  great  ques- 
tion  of  the  day.  Many  of  the  Bishops,  especially  in  North 
Africa,"®  were  disposed  to  shut  the  door  of  forgiveness,  at  least 
De  Pudicitiay  21,  22 ; which  invectives,  however,  may  have  been  aimed 
at  the  Bishops  generally,  and  not  (as  sometimes  thought)  at  Zephyrinus  in 
particular. 

*5  Before  Tertullian  framed  a religious  language  for  the  West,  it  was  not 
easy  to  express  in  Latin  the  nicer  points  of  the  Greek  theology. 

So  says  S.  Cyprian,  EpistoL  Iv.  ad  Antonianum ; his  own  practice, 


26o 


History  of  the  Church. 

against  adulterers  and  other  scandalous  offenders.  But  Zephyri- 
Extrerm  ^us  and  CalHstus  offered  pardon  to  all.  Their  facility 
Positions,  respect,  and  their  readiness  to  admit  to  com- 

munion, seemed  hardly  to  fall  short  of  that  of  the  Elxaite  sect, 
— a sort  of  Anabaptists  then  flourishing  in  Rome,^  who  offered  a 
new  immersion  to  all  who  professed  repentance,  and  promised 
in  each  immersion  a plenary  absolution  of  bygone  sins.  Be- 
tween the  captivating  laxity  of  heretics  of  this  kind,  and  the 
plausible  severity  of  such  men  as  Hippolytus,  it  was  by  no 
means  easy  to  steer  a just  middle  course. 

The  Decian  persecution,  and  the  quarrels  about  discipline 
Decian  that  Sprang  from  it,  made  an  epoch,  as  we  have  seen, 
Epoch,  history  of  North  Africa  : it  had  an  equal  influ- 

ence upon  the  development  and  the  destinies  of  the  Roman 
Church. 

In  both  Churches  there  was  a chronic  opposition  to  the 
ruling  party.  In  Carthage,  this  opposition  maintained  a doc- 
Romeand  trine  of  almost  indiscriminate  indulgence,  against  the 
Carthage,  yiews  of  S.  Cyprian.  In  Rome,  it  appeared, 

as  already  stated,  under  an  opposite  guise.  But  as  the  Cartha- 
ginian Novatus  and  the  Roman  Novatianus  played  into  each 
other’s  hands,  and  united  on  a ground  of  inexorable  severity  to 
the  lapsed,  so  Cyprian  and  Cornelius  stood  together  on 
and  that  middle  ground  of  rigor  tempered  by  a moderate 
use  of  the  power  of  indulgence,  which  became,  after 
many  struggles,  the  general  policy  of  the  Church,  This  league 
between  the  two  great  leaders  of  Western  Christianity  was 
doubtless  beneficial  to  them  both.  The  bias  towards  austerity, 
which  Cyprian  had  inherited  from  his  master  Ter- 
tullian,  and  that  towards  laxity  which  characterized 
the  Clergy  of  the  Roman  Church,  were  moderated  to  a wise 
and  religious  mean. 

The  accession  of  Stephen,  a period  to  which  we  have  been 

however,  v/as  after  the  full  term  of  penance^  public  confession  being  made^ 
to  admit  all  offenders  to  communion. 

*7  See  Book  II.  ch.  vii. 


Rome  and  the  West. 


261 


conducted  by  the  thread  of  African  Church  History,  interrupted 
this  happy  concord  between  the  two  Churches,  and  Stephen^ 
added  another  to  the  many  painful  disputes  by  which 
Christendom  was  already  so  scandalously  divided. 

It  was  the  question  of  the  validity  of  baptism  administered 
by  heretics.  Cyprian  took  the  ground  previously  maintained 
by  the  Council  under  Agrippinus,  that  as  the  Church  Baptism  by 
alone  has  authority  to  baptize,  no  true  baptism  could 
be  given  out  of  the  Church  pale.  Stephen  commanded  that 
converts  from  all  sects  should  be  received,  as  the  sects  re- 
ceived from  one  another,  by  penance  only,  with  the  imposition 
of  hands. The  Name  of  Christ,  he  argued,  was  powerful 
enough  to  give  validity  to  any  baptism  in  which  it  was  invoked. 
In  addition  to  this  he  pleaded  the  authority  of  custom.  It  is 
probable  enough  that  the  custom  of  many  Churches,  and  per- 
haps of  a majority  of  them,  was  such  as  he  alleged.  But  when 
he  proceeded,  in  the  spirit  of  his  predecessor,  Victor,  violence  of 
to  make  that  custom  a universal  law,  neither  North  Stephen. 
Africa  nor  the  East  was  prepared  to  accede  to  any  such  preten- 
sions. Supported  by  Alexandria  by  a letter  from  Firmilianus, 
the  learned  Bishop  of  Cappadocian  Caesarea,  written  in  behalf 
of  many  other  Eastern  prelates ; and  by  the  harmonious  action 

Cyprian.  Epist.  73,  Pariss.  ‘‘  On  this  question  there  were  three  views 
in  the  early  Church:  (i)  that  of  the  early  African  Church  and.of  Asia  Minor, 
in  the  time  of  Firmilian,  which  rejected  all  baptism  out  of  the  Church,  schis- 
matical  as  well  as  heretical;  (2)  that  of  the  Greek  Church  generally,  which 
accepted  schismatical  but  rejected  heretical  baptism;  (3)  that  first  mentioned 
by  Stephen,  Bishop  of  Rome,  who  accepted  all  baptism,  even  of  heretics, 
which  had  been  given  in  the  Name  of  the  Trinity.”  See  a learned  note  to 
the  Oxford  translation  of  Tertullian^  vol.  i.  p.  280.  It  has  been  much  dis- 
puted, however,  whether  Stephen  did  not  take  the  position  that  the  Name  of 
Christ,  without  any  mention  of  the  other  Persons  of  the  Trinity,  was  enough 
for  a valid  baptism.  S.  Cyprian’s  language  seems  to  say  as  much : but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  fact  that  he  does  not  argue  against  such  an  extreme  position, 
is  almost  fatal  to  the  supposition  that  Stephen  really  held  it. 

*9  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  is  thought  by  some  to  have  agreed  with 
Stephen  on  the  abstract  question ; but  considered  it  a matter  in  which  differ- 
ence of  opinion  ought  to  be  allowed.  See  Neale’s  Holy  Eastern  Church, 


262 


History  of  the  Church. 


of  three  Councils  of  Carthage,  in  the  last  of  which  eighty-seven 
Cyprian's  Bishops  Were  present : Cyprian  made  light  of  the 
Course.  Roman  custom,  and  set  at  naught  the  excommunica- 
tions of  Stephen.  Indeed,  the  latter,  on  account  of  his  vio- 
lence, was  regarded  by  many  as  having  cut  himself  off  from  the 
unity  of  the  Church. 

In  all  this  Cyprian  was  thoroughly  consistent.  While  an 
ardent  advocate  of  episcopal  authority,  and  willing  to  pay  a 
certain  deference  to  the  Roman  See,  he  always  re- 

His  Prin~  ^ 

cjpje  of  garded  that  authority  as  limited  by  the  rights  of  the 
People  on  the  one  side,  and  by  the  essential  equality 
of  Bishops  on  the  other.  In  local  affairs,  a Bishop  could  do 
nothing  without  the  concurrence  of  the  local  Church ; in  mat- 
ters of  general  concernment,  nothing  without  the  consent  of 
his  peers  and  colleagues.''*  The  conduct  of  Stephen,  in  endeav- 
oring to  make  the  custom  of  one  Church  a law  for  all,  was  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  this  wholesome  rule. 

The  baptismal  controversy,  like  that  concerning  Easter, 
Question  seems  to  have  remained  unsettled  till  the  Council  of 
settled.  Nicaea.  It  made  no  schism,  however,  and  the  violence 
with  which  it  was  conducted  speedily  abated. 

Two  other  cases  that  occurred  during  the  pontificate  of 
Relations  Stephen,  served  to  bring  out  more  distinctly  still  the 
of  Bishops,  relations  of  the  Bishops. 

Martianus,  Bishop  of  Arles,  a flourishing  Church  in  Southern 
Gaul,  having  fallen  into  Novatian  errors,  Faustinus,  Bishop  of 
Case  of  Lyons,  and  sundry  others  in  the  same  Province,  wrote 
Martianus.  j-gpeatedly  both  to  Cyprian  and  Stephen,  soliciting 
Cyprian's  their  intervention  for  the  relief  of  the  afflicted  Church. 
Letter.  Movcd  by  their  entreaties,  Cyprian  writes  to  Stephen 
on  the  subject.""  ‘‘It  devolves  upon  us,'*  says  he,  “to  extend 


20  See  Epistle  of  Firmilianus,  Cyprian.  Op. 

2^  The  term  “ Brother”  or  “ Colleague,”  was  the  ordinary  style  of  Bish- 
ops in  addressing  one  another.  The  term  “ Papa,”  “ Pope,”  “ Father,”  was 
applied  equally  to  all  Bishops  by  their  inferiors  in  grade, 

22  S.  Cyprian.  Epis.  Ixvi.  Pariss.  I quote  the  substance  only  of  this  letter. 


Rome  and  the  West. 


263 


both  counsel  and  help  in  such  emergencies.  . . . For  this  very 
purpose  the  Bishops,  though  one  in  the  bonds  of  unity  and 
concord,  are  a numerous  body ; that  if  one  of  our 

^ Why  more 

Colleagues  should  play  the  wolf  and  begin  to  scatter 
the  flock,  the  others  may  come  up  to  the  rescue,  like 
faithful  shepherds,  and  gather  the  Lord’s  sheep  into  the  fold. 
There  is  more  than  one  haven  provided  for  the  storm-tossed 
mariner,  . * . more  than  one  inn  for  the  traveller  waylaid  by 
thieves.  . . . Where  one  refuge  fails,  another,  the  Appeal  to 
nearest  at  hand,  should  be  promptly  opened.  . . . it 
behooves  thee,  therefore,  brother  well-beloved,  to  send  most 
ample  instructions  to  our  brother  Bishops  in  Gaul,  . . . and 
to  the  people  of  Arles,  that  Martianus  be  deposed  and  another 
chosen  in  his  stead.”  In  thus  laying  the  chief  share  of  the 
common  burden  upon  Stephen,  Cyprian  was  obviously  influenced 
by  the  greater  nearness  of  the  latter  to  the  scene  of  action. 

The  second  case  was  somewhat  different  in  character.  The 
Churches  of  Leon  and  Astorga  in  Spain  had  in  due  form  pro- 
cured the  deposition  of  their  Bishops,  Basilides  and  case  of 
Martialis,  convicted  of  apostasy  in  the  Decian  perse- 
cution  ; and  two  other  Bishops,  Felix  and  Sabinus, 
had  been  appointed  in  their  place.  But  Basilides  repaired  to 
Rome  and  insinuated  himself  into  the  good  graces  of  Stephen. 
The  Spaniards,  hearing  that  an  effort  would  be  made  cyprian 
to  bring  about  his  reinstatement,  consulted  Cyprian 
and  the  North  African  Church  on  the  course  to  be  pursued. 
The  answer  is  in  the  name  of  an  African  Synod. It 
commends  the  conduct  of  the  Spaniards ; shows  the 
deposition  of  the  two  Bishops  to  have  been  in  all  points  right- 
eous and  canonical ; reflects  obliquely  upon  Stephen ; and  ex- 
horts the  Churches  to  stand  firm  against  any  effort  to  reverse 
their  decision,  from  whatever  quarter  it  might  come.  By  all 
means  let  the  divine  and  apostolic  custom  be  observed,  which 
prevails  among  us  and  among  almost  all  the  provinces  of  the 


23  Epistol.  Ixvii. 


264 


History  of  the  Church. 


world.  If  a prelate  is  to  be  appointed,  let  the  neighboring 
Mod  of  Bishops  of  the  Province  come  together  in  presence  of 
electing  the  people  over  whom  he  is  to  be  ordained,  and  let 

SishofSt 

the  Bishop  be  chosen  by  the  people  present/^  who  are 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  life  and  character.  This  you 
have  done  in  the  ordination  of  Sabinus,  our  Colleague.  By  the 
suffrage  of  the  whole  brotherhood,  and  by  the  judgment  of  the 
Bishops  assembled,  the  Bishopric  was  conferred  upon  him,  and 
hands  were  laid  upon  him  in  place  of  Basilides.  Such  an  ordi- 
. nation  cannot  be  disannulled.  ...  Be  not  troubled. 

Election 

not  to  be  therefore,  even  though  some  of  our  Colleas;ues  should 

annulled.  ^ 

despise  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  and  make  com- 
mon cause  with  Martialis  and  Basilides ; . . . knowing  that  he 
who  thus  acts  falls  under  the  Divine  censure  expressed  in  the 
Psalm,  ^ When  thou  sawest  a thief  thou  consentedst  unto  him, 
and  hast  been  partaker  with  the  adulterers.’  ” 

In  this  way  Cyprian  rebuked  the  arbitrary  spirit  of  Stephen, 
Stephen  Irenaeus  had  rebuked  that  of  his  predecessor, 

Rebuked.  Victor. 

The  persecution  that  soon  broke  out  under  the  Emperor  Vale- 
rian was  aimed  especially  at  the  leaders  of  the  Church.  According 
Valerian's  to  the  imperial  edict.  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons  were 
fionT^'  to  be  put  to  death  by  the  sword  j Senators  and  Knights 
A.D.257-261.  to  lose  their  dignity  and  property ; women  of 
condition  were  to  be  banished  ; and  Christians  in  the  service  of 
the  court  were  to  be  sent  in  chains  to  labor  on  the  public 
works. The  object  was  to  deprive  the  Church  of  Clergy,  and 
stephenand^^  stop  the  Spread  of  Christianity  among  the  higher 
fu^er,  classes.  Stephen  was  among  the  first  that  suffered  ; 
A.D.257-258.  toeing  p^t  to  death,  it  is  said,  while  celebrating  the 
Service  in  one  of  the  crypts  of  the  catacombs.^  Sixtus,  his 
successor,  obtained  the  same  honor.  Thus,  within  a period  of 

=4  Or,  flebe  preesente — in  presence  of  the  people — it  may  mean ; though 
the  context,  it  seems  to  me,  favors  the  translation  I have  given. 

25  S.  Cyprian.  EpistoL  Ixxxi.  Pariss. 

^ Pagi,  Breviarium  PP.  R.  Martyrolog.  Rotnan. 


Rome  and  the  West. 


265 

about  eight  years,  five  Roman  Bishops  were  enrolled  among  the 
Martyrs.  Cyprian  in  North  Africa,  and  Dionysius  cyprian, 
in  Egypt,  were  at  first  banished  ; but  this  being  found 
insufficient,  the  former  of  these  prelates  was  summoned  again 
into  the  presence  of  the  Proconsul,  and  was  sentenced  to  death. 
He  answered  simply,  and  with  dignity,  God  be  thanked.’’  In 
the  carrying  out  of  the  sentence  there  was  great  publicity,  and 
much  of  the  pomp  and  show  of  a state  execution. 

On  the  restoration  of  peace,  after  the  disastrous  expedition 
against  the  Persians  in  which  Valerian  was  made  prisoner,^^  the 
stream  of  Church  life  flowed  more  tranquilly  for  awhile, 

Dionysius 

if  not  more  healthily.  In  Africa,  especially,  few  names  of  Rome, 
of  any  note  present  themselves  till  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury. In  Rome,  the  long  and  prosperous  pontificate  of  Dionysius 
was  marked  by  two  events  of  considerable  importance. 

The  Clergy  of  Pentapolis  in  Egypt  addressed  a complaint 
to  the  Roman  Bishop  against  his  famous  namesake,  their  own 
spiritual  head,  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  In  the  course  complaint 
of  a controversv  with  the  Sabellians  who  had  obtained  against 

*'  ^ Dionysius 

a foothold  in  that  region,  he  had  employed  arguments  of  AUxan^ 
and  analogies  which  seemed  to  make  the  Son  inferior 
in  substance  to  the  Father.  A Council  was  held  at  Rome,  and 
explanations  were  called  for.^  The  Alexandrian  Bishop  satis- 
factorily cleared  himself  in  an  Apology  of  four  Books,  and  the 
matter  was  soon  dropped. 

27 Pontius,  Vit.  Cypr, ; Passio  Cyprian.  S.  Cyprian,  Epistol.  Ixxvi-lxxxii. 

After  being  treated  with  every  indignity  by  the  Persian  king.  Valerian 
was  flayed  alive. 

29  Dionysius  of  Rome  was  an  able  theologian ; and  came  nearer,  per- 
haps, than  any  divine  of  that  age  to  the  exact  definitions  of  the  Nicene  period. 
See  fragments  of  his  writings  in  Routh,  Reliqu.  Sacr.  iii.  For  the  expres- 
sions that  brought  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  into  trouble,  see  ch.  vi.  of  this 
Book.  It  would  seem  that  the  Roman  Church,  having  been  compelled  to 
condemn  the  extremes  of  Theodotus  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  Patripas- 
sians  on  the  other,  and  having  also  rejected  the  more  subtle  error  of  subordi- 
nationism  (or  tritheism)  as  held  by  Hippolytus,  had  practically  attained  to  the 
exact  position  of  the  Nicene  period  in  advance  of  most  Churches. 

12 


266 


History  of  the  Church. 


Guard 
upon  one 
another. 


Such  transactions  were  a necessary  fruit  of  the  unity  of  the 
Episcopate, 3° a practical  answer  to  the  question,  Quis  custodiet  ipsos 
Bishops  a custodes  ? Bishops  had  not  only  to  watch  their  several 
flocks,  but  to  keep  an  eye  on  one  another.  When  the 
conduct,  therefore,  of  any  particular  prelate  was  im- 
pugned, the  first  step  would  be  a reference  of  the  case  to  some 
distinguished  colleague  or  near  neighbor ; and  if  this  failed^  a 
Council,  as  general  as  possible,  would  have  to  be  assembled. 
Nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  such  a mode  of  proceeding. 
As  it  was  always  easy,  however,  to  run  to  one  Bishop,  but 
extremely  difficult  to  bring  about  a concurrent  action  of  many, 
it  tended,  on  the  whole,  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  greater 
Sees ; and  especially,  of  course,  to  that  of  the  See  of  Rome. 

A second  case,  under  the  same  pontificate,  foreshadowed 
A Second  another  fruitful  source  of  increase  to  Roman  preroga- 

Case. 

On  the  condemnation  of  Paul  of  Samosata  by  the  Council 
in  Antioch, 3*  a question  arose  between  the  faction  that  still  ad- 
hered to  him  and  the  party  of  Domnus  his  successor,  as  to  the 
Referred  to  possession  of  Church  property  in  that  important  See. 
^Bisho%\^^  It  was  referred  to  the  Emperor  Aurelian.  He  again 
A.D.  272.  committed  it  for  decision  to  Dionysius  and  the  Italian 
Bishops.  This  course,  perfectly  natural  and  equitable  under  all 
the  circumstances,  was  the  initiative  of  a policy,  which,  if  Rome 
had  continued  to  be  the  sole  seat  of  empire,  might 
have  anticipated  by  some  centuries  the  time  of  a great 
monarchy  in  the  Church,  by  making  the  Roman 
Bishop  the  spiritual  counterpart  of  the  Emperor.  Providentially 
the  empire  became  divided  as  soon  as  it  became  Christian. 
Constantinople  shared  with  Rome  the  imperial  favor,  and  the 
centralizing  drift  was  in  part  at  least  diverted. 

In  the  meantime,  there  was  little  in  the  Roman  Church  of 


Centrali- 

zation 

tendency. 


30  We  have  already  seen  instances  of  such  appeals  to  S.  Cyprian.  An- 
other similar  case  will  appear  in  connection  with  Paul  of  Samosata.  For 
appeals  to  Alexandria,  see  Neale’s  Holy  E.  Churchy  Book  I.  ? 5. 

3*  See  chap.  v.  of  this  Book. 


Rome  and  the  West.  267 

the  third  century,  at  least  in  point  of  numbers  or  of  external 
show,  to  indicate  the  greatness  it  was  destined  ulti-  Greatness 
mately  to  achieve. After  two  hundred  years  of  daily  R{man 
growth,  the  Roman  Bishop  could  boast  a clerical  staff  Church, 
of  forty-six  Presbyters,  seven  Deacons,  seven  Subdeacons,  forty- 
two  Alcolyths,  and  hfty-two  Exorcists:  and  during 
the  whole  of  the  third  century  the  number  of  Presby- 
ters  ordained  averaged  less  than  two  a year.33  If  the  people, 
therefore,  were  to  the  priests  according  to  any  modern  ratio, 
their  whole  number  could  hardly  have  been  more  than  fifty 
thousand.  This  was  but  a small  proportion  of  a population 
which,  at  a moderate  estimate,  must  have  numbered  consider- 
ably more  than  a million.  It  was  found  chiefly,  sodai 
moreover,  among  the  lower,  or  perhaps  the  intelligent  Position. 

middle,  and  foreign  classes. The  Gospel,  it  is  true,  had 

32  S.  Cyprian  declares,  however,  that  the  Emperor  Decius  could  better 
brook  a competitor  in  his  throne,  than  a Bishop  in  his  metropolis : a feeling 
that  arose  probably  from  the  exaggeration  of  hatred,  rather  than  from  any 
sense  of  danger  to  his  power. 

33  See  Pagi,  Breviai'ium  PP.  R.  who  gives  the  ordinations  of  each  reign 
in  about  the  proportion  mentioned.  Calculations  made  from  the  vast  extent 
of  the  Catacombs  have  led  to  the  supposition  of  a much  larger  number  of 
believers.  But  these  calculations  involve  so  many  hypotheses^  and  lead  to 
such  extravagant  results,  that  I cannot  bring  myself  to  allow  them  much 
weight.  The  number  of  Clergy  and  the  number  of  Churches  in  Rome  (about 
forty  towards  the  end  of  the  century)  are  the  most  reliable  data.  See  Mait- 
land’s Church  in  the  Catacombs,  and  Northcote’s  Roman  Catacombs.  The 
basis  of  the  calculations  from  the  Catacombs  is  given  concisely  in  Rawlinson’s 
Historical  Evidences,  note  xxxix.  to  lecture  viii. 

Among  the  mere  refuse  of  the  earth,  a heathen  is  made  to  say  in  the 
Octavius  of  Minucius  Felix.  This  writer,  probably  an  African  by  birth,  is 
among  the  most  graphic  and  lively  of  the  Apologists.  He  wrote  early  in  the 
century.  That  there  must  have  been  a fair  proportion  of  intelligent  people 
among  the  Christians  is  proved  by  the  general  character  of  the  writings  of 
the  period;  writings  which  in  style  and  matter  are  far  above  the  range  of  that 
kind  of  literature  that  would  suit  a mere  rabble.  Such  expressions  as  “ refuse 
of  the  earth,”  would  be  applied  by  a proud  Roman  to  any  foreigner,  however 
intelligent.  . S.  Paul  himself  was  doubtless  so  regarded  by  many.  See  Mil- 
man’s  Hist,  of  Christianity,  Book  II.  ch.  ix.  and  Neander’s  Ch.  History. 


268 


History  of  the  Church. 

been  heard  within  the  walls  of  the  palace ; it  had  invaded 
the  philosophic  schools;  it  had  made  converts  of  senatorial 
rank  : and  in  two  or  three  cases  a fitful  gleam  of  imperial 
favor  had  awakened  expectations  not  yet  to  be  fulfilled. 
These,  however,  were  as  yet  but  exceptional  cases.  Heathenism 
still  presented  to  the  eye  an  almost  unbroken  front. 

To  a stranger  visiting  Rome — gazing  with  awe  upon  the. 
Heathen  of  its  palaces,  hippodromes,  theatres, 

F/Vw  baths,  porticos,  and  temples ; or  mingling  with  the 
myriads  of  idolaters  of  every  clime  and  rite  who 
thronged  these  gorgeous  centres  of  universal  concourse, — the 
existence  of  Christianity  might  have  been  for  a long  time  unno- 
ticed, or  only  noticed  as  a fact  of  little  significance  to  a philo-  ' 
sophic  mind. 35  If  an  early  riser,  indeed,  he  might  have  seen  a 
Peculiar  few  groups  of  men  and  women  before  the  day  dawned. 
Habits.  stealing  hurriedly  to  and  fro  in  some  obscure  suburb. 
If  a curious  inquirer,  he  might  have  learned  from  some  haughty 
Heathen  Romaii  that  thtsQ  An/etucani,  ‘^haters  of  the  light,^® 
Slanders,  j^^ters  of  the  gods,  addicted  to  a skulking  superstition 
utterly  foreign  to  Roman  habits,’^  were  distinguished  from  other 
strange  sects  by  the  name  of  Christians.  But  if  he  wished  to  know 
more  of  them,  he  could  learn  it  only  from  themselves.  With  no 
temples,  no  altars  of  any  note,37and  as  was  commonly  reported  no 
God,  they  celebrated  sacra peregrinaundQV  an  impenetrable 
veil  of  mystery.  Some  said  they  met  together  at  night  for  Thy- 
estean  repasts ; that  they  worshipped  an  ass’s  head ; that  they 
practised  the  most  abominable  obscenities.  Others  affirmed,  on 


35 The  silence  of  eminent  heathen  writers,  on  the  subject  of  Christianity, 
is  made  much  of  by  Gibbon.  Such  silence,  however,  was  probably  an  affec- 
tation ; or,  if  real,  it  only  shows  how  blind  the  wisest  men  are  to  things  going 
on  around  them. 

B^Latebrosa  et  lucifuga  natio,  etc.,  etc.  Minucii.  Fel.  Octavius. 

37  Minuc.  Fel.  Oct.  That  is,  with  none  of  sufficient  splendor  to  attract  a 
heathen  eye.  In  the  times  of  the  Emperor  Severus,  edifices  of  greater  pre- 
tensions began  to  be  reared  in  the  principal  cities.  On  this  subject,  see  Prof. 
Blunt’s  Lectures  on  the  First  Three  Centuries. 


Rome  and  the  West.  269 

the  contrary,  that  with  the  exception  of  their  strange,  unsocial, 
and  unpatriotic  ways,  no  harm  of  any  sort  could  be  sobriety 
alleged  against  them.  One  thing  certain  was,  that  little 
was  seen  of  them  on  the  sunny  side  of  life  ; little  amid 
the  pride  and  pomp  of  the  great  Roman  world. The  mistress 
of  the  nations  sat  on  a dazzling  throne  of  universal  dominion. 
Christianity  seemed  but  the  most  sullen  and  intractable  of  the 
many  slaves^  that  crouched  at  her  imperial  feet. 

Such  was  Christianity  as  seen  from  a secular  point  of  view. 
But  the  Christians,  the  meanwhile,  lived  in  a world  of  their 
own.  While  heathen  Rome  was  still  rearing  her 

Christian 

proud  fanes  in  the  upper  air,  bewitching  idolatrous  Poi^of 
crowds  with  a glittering  mockery  of  greatness,  Chris- 
tian Rome  was  delving  deep  for  her  foundations  in  the  bowels 
of  the  earth. Condemned  to  seek  refuge  among  the  dead,  she 
found  in  death  itself  a source  of  inspiration.  While  the  King 
of  terrors  mowed  the  heathen  down  like  grass — a little  ashes  in 
an  urn  by  the  roadside  being  the  fit  symbol  of  their  ephemeral 
existence — his  presence  was  welcomed  among  the  Christians  as 
adding  new  recruits  to  their  spiritual  muster-roll,  swelling  the 
mighty  host  of  invisible  defenders,  and  increasing  the  volume 
and  the  efficacy  of  that  all-prevailing  prayer.  Thy  king-  ^ ^ ^ 

dom  come.  The  catacombs,^"  in  fact,  were  the  tem- 
ples, the  altars,  it  might  even  be  said  the  literature  and  theology, 
of  the  primitive  Roman  Church. 

38  Non  spectacula  visitis,  non  pompis  interestis,  etc.  Min.  Fel.  Octavius. 

39  Each  nation  had  its  own  particular  god ; but  Rome,  the  universal  and 
eternal,  had  conquered  all  gods,  and  had  a place  for  all.  This  claim  to  a 
spurious  Catholicty  is  finely  stated  in  the  Octavius. 

40  Impia  Roma  suis  scrutata  est  molibus  astra  : 

Scrutata  est  terrae  viscera  Roma  pia. 

— In  Subterran.  Rom.  Anonymi. 

4*  Aringhi,  Roma  Suhterranea.  The  magnificent  work  of  Ferret  brings 
the  subject  down  to  the  more  recent  discoveries  : Cate  combes  de  Rome,  par 
Louis  Ferret:  Faris,  1855.  ^bis  splendid  work  the  plates  are  very  exact, 
and  wonderfully  suggestive.  Christian  Catacombs  have  been  found  also  in 
Naples,  Syracuse,  Malta,  etc.  See  Gieseler,  § 70,  n.  ii.  Northcote’s  Roman 
Catacombs  (London,  1857)  is  one  of  the  latest  works  on  the  subject. 


270 


History  of  the  Church. 

Resorted  to  at  first  as  inviolable  places  of  sepulture,  after- 
wards as  convenient  hiding-holes  from  constantly  recurring  per- 
piaces  0/  secution,^^  these  regions  of  the  dead  became  the  living 
Burial.  heart  of  a most  earnest  faith ; the  very  shrine  of  the 

hallowed  and  stirring  associations  which  the  Resurrection  of  the 
dead,  the  Communion  of  saints,  and  the  nearness  of  the  Appear- 
ing of  the  King  of  Glory,  could  never  fail  to  inspire.  They  were 
xoc[X7jzijpca, — dormitories  of  those  who  slept  in  Christ ; arece^ — 
Places  of  sacred  threshing-floors,  in  which  the  good  grain  was 
Worship,  separated  from  the  chaff,  and  garnered  up  for  future 
seed-times  and  harvests  ; concilia  martyrum, — where  the  living 
martyrs  and  the  dead  could  meet  in  conference,  as  it  were,  and 
take  sweet  counsel  tegether.^^  jvjor  was  a tragic  element  want- 
ing, to  give  force  and  depth  to  suggestions  of  this  kind.  Some- 
times the  myrmidons  of  power,  having  hunted  the  faithful  from 
the  daylight,  would  venture  down  in  hot  pursuit  of  them  to 
Tragic  their  subterranean  retreats.  A Bishop  would  be  torn 
Element.  altar^^  and  ruthlessly  despatched.  A knot  of 

worshippers  would  be  slaughtered  amid  their  sacred  rites,  or 

42  <<  Alexander  is  not  dead,  but  lives  above  the  stars,  and  his  body  rests 
in  this  tomb.  He  ended  his  life  under  the  Emperor  Antoninus,  who,  when  he 
saw  himself  much  surpassed  in  conferring  benefits,  returned  hatred  for  kind- 
ness. For  when  he  was  bending  the  knee  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of  prayer  to 
the  true  God,  he  was  led  away  to  punishment.  O what  times  ! Inscrip- 
tion, translated  in  Maitland’s  Church  in  the  Catacombs. 

43  The  custom  of  worshipping  in  cemeteries,  of  celebrating  the  natalitia 
of  the  martyrs  about  their  tombs,  and  especially  of  feasting  or  worshipping  in 
such  places  by  night,  proved  also  a source  of  superstitions  and  abuses.  The 
great  care  of  the  Christians  in  burying  their  dead  began  to  degenerate,  before 
the  end  of  the  third  century,  into  a fondness  for  relics.  See  Gieseler,  g 70. 
Felix,  Bishop  of  Rome  after  Dionysius,  is  said,  in  the  Liber  Pontificates ^ to 
have  first  introduced  the  custom  of  celebrating  the  Eucharist  over  the  tombs 
of  the  martyrs.  Night- worship  in  cemeteries  gave  occasion  to  the  34th 
Canon  of  the  Council  of  Elvira,  which  forbids  candles  to  be  used  in  those 
places,  “ lest  the  spirits  of  the  Saints  should  be  disquieted.”  See  Bingham’s 
Antiquities^  xxiii.  iii.  16  and  17  ; xx.  vii.  10;  viii.  i.  9;  etc.,  etc. 

44  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  end  of  Stephen : S.  Stephan,  Acta  apud 
Surium,  August  2 ; Martyrolog.  Roman. 


Rente  and  the  West. 


271 


walled  up  to  perish  of  speedy  suffocation.  All  who  suffered 
thus,  lived,  in  the  faith  of  the  survivors,  on  a glorious  equality. 
The  infant  martyr  and  the  hoary-headed  Bishop  alike  slept  in 
Christ,  alike  awaited  His  appearing.  The  same  simple  inscrip- 
tion, In  Pace,^5  Y^as  a sufficient  record  of  them  both.  Thus  the 
inania  regna,  the  mere  phantom  realms  of  Dis  as  heathendom 
regarded  them,  became  to  Christian  faith  the  most  living  and 
most  real  of  all  commonwealths.  Persecution  gave  Earnest 
intensity  to  this  feeling.  The  catacombs  were  its  Faith, 
expression.  Fired  with  this  belief,  the  Christians  closed  their 
eyes  to  their  own  apparent  inferiority;  knowing  that  at  any 
moment,  suddenly,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  plant  grow- 
ing underground  might  rise  and  come  forth  victoriously  to  the 
light  of  day. 

In  this  spirit  and  with  this  faith,  the  Roman  Church  acted 
as  if  the  great  Babylon  were  already  given  to  it  in  possession. 
Its  seven  Deacons,  assisted  by  seven  Subdeacons,  administered 
the  charities  of  the  Church,  and  had  charge  of  the  poor  in  the 
fourteen  Regiones  into  which  the  city  was  divided.  The  Pres- 
byters, assisted  by  the  Acolyths,  labored  in  the  Word  and  the 
Sacraments.  The  large  number  of  Exorcists  sprang  „ , 

X Working 

from  a deep  consciousness  of  a warfare  with  more  than  System  of 

a 1 111  1 ••Ilf/**  1 Church, 

flesh  and  blood, — a vivid  belief  in  the  near  presence 
and  malignity  of  demoniacal  possession.  Over  all  the  Bishop 
was  supreme ; the  foremost  leader  and  example  in  times  of 
peace,  the  most  prominent  victim  in  the  day  of  persecution.^® 
There  was  little  attention  paid  to  preaching,  in  the 
modern  sense  of  the  word.  The  Church  services, 
which  at  first  were  probably  in  Greek,  were,  as  the  Latin  ele- 

45  Or,  VI  BAS  IN  PACE.  The  earliest  inscriptions  are  the  most  simple  : 
— “ Dormit,”  quiescit,’^  “ depositus  est,”  and  the  like;  the  formula  in pace^ 
however,  almost  always  being  added. 

46  There  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  in  the  third  century  Callistus, 
Urbanus,  Pontianus,  Anterus,  Fabianus,  Cornelius,  Lucius,  Stephen,  and 
Sixtus,  successively  exchanged  the  mitre  for  the  Martyr’s  crown ; five  of  them 
within  the  space  of  about  eight  years.  See  Pagi,  Breviar,  BP,  B,  The  testi- 
mony of  the  Catacombs  has  made  this  fact  more  certain. 


Preaching, 


272 


History  of  the  Church. 

ment  increased/^  translated  into  the  language  understood  by 
the  people,  and  developed  into  a minute  and  elaborate  system 
Public  of  instruction.  Beyond  this,  teaching  seems  to  have 
Services.  familiar,  expository,  conversational  form. 

In  publicum  muta^  in  angulis  garrula^  as  the  heathen  expressed 
it,  the  Church  addressed  herself  to  individuals  rather  than  to 
crowds ; so  that  for  more  than  three  centuries  pulpit  eloquence 
Popular  was  almost  unknown.^®  But  the  business  of  the  Church 
Element,  gcems  to  havc  been  admirably  managed.  The  paternal 
element  had  not  swallowed  up  the  fraternal.  The  People  took 
a decided  interest  in  all  affairs  : and  occasionally,  through  those 
popular  heroes  the  Martyrs  and  Confessors,  they  exerted  an  un- 
due and  dangerous  influence.  Hence  the  exuberance  of  Church 
life  broke  out  frequently  into  faction,  and  once  into  a formid- 
able schism.  But  there  were  plenty  of  legitimate  channels  for 
popular  zeal.  Some  fifteen  hundred  poor,  besides  widows  and 
virgins,^^  were  supported  by  the  voluntary  contribu- 
tions of  the  faithful.  So  lavish  was  the  bounty  thus 
diffused,  that  it  created  among  the  heathen  suspicions  of  great 
Deacon  stores  of  hidden  wealth.  In  the  reign  of  Valerian, 
Laureniius.  ^j-chdeacon  Laurentius  was  summoned  and  interro- 
gated on  the  subject. 5°  He  promised,  if  one  day  were  granted, 
to  reveal  the  Church’s  treasures.  He  redeemed  his  pledge, 
having  taken  care  in  the  meantime  to  sell  the  church-plate 
and  give  the  proceeds  to  the  poor,  by  bringing  a great  crowd 
of  these  living  ‘‘jewels  ” into  the  presence  of  the  astonished  and 

47  In  the  Catacombs  Greek  inscriptions  abound ; and  sometimes  even  the 
Latin  inscriptions  are  graven  in  Greek  characters. 

^sSozomen  [Eccl.  H.  vii.  19)  mentions  it  at  a peculiarity  of  Rome  that 
there  was  no  teaching  in  the  Church.  See  Milman’s  Lat.  Christianity. 
Minucius  Felix  explains,  that  the  Christians  would  have  been  ready  enough 
to  discourse  in  public,  if  they  had  been  allowed. 

49  Euseb.  vi.  43. 

50  Three  days  before,  his  Bishop,  Sixtus  (or  Xystus),  had  been  borne  to 
execution.  Laurentius  followed  him  in  tears,  saying,  ‘‘  Whither  goest  thou, 
father,  without  thy  son  ? ” To  which  the  Bishop  answered,  Thou  shalt  fol- 
low me  in  three  days  ! 


Rome  and  the  West. 


273 


angry  judge.  For  this  he  was  slowly  broiled  to  death  on  a 
heated  iron  grate,  and  became  the  most  popular  of  Roman  mar- 
tyrs. But  it  was  not  to  the  poor  of  Rome  merely  that  Bounties 
the  bounty  of  the  Church  was  extended.  Early  in  the  toother 

Churches, 

second  century  Dionysius  of  Corinth  had  reason  to 
laud  the  Christian  sympathy  of  Rome.^^  In  the  Decian  perse- 
cution the  tide  of  liberality  rolls  back  in  fervid  acknowledg- 
ments from  the  brethren  of  Arabia  and  Syria.  Somewhat 
later,  Dionysius  sends  a ransom  for  the  Cappadocian  Christians 
carried  into  captivity  by  the  Gothic  invaders  of  Asia  Minor. 
Thus  early  Rome  deemed  it  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive. Her  well  ordered  charities,  even  more  than  her  con- 
sistent policy,  were  laying  the  foundations  of  that  power  over  the 
hearts  of  men  which  later  Rome  afterwards  so  grievously  abused. 

The  temporary  outbreak  against  the  Christians  towards  the 
end  of  Aurelian’s  reign,  and  the  more  systematic  persecution 
under  the  Emperors  Diocletian  and  Maximian,  corn- 

Persecu. 

monly  called  the  tenth,  added  many  names  to  the  roll  tions,  a.d. 
of  Martyrs,  and  raised  up  some  vigorous  defenders  of 
Christianity : among  others  two  African  rhetoricians,  Arno- 
bius53  and  Lactantius.  In  the  latter  of  these  persecu-  Amodius, 
tions  the  rancor  of  the  heathen  seems  to  have  ex- 
hausted  itself.  The  world  was  growing  sick  of  its  own  atroci- 
ties. When  Constantine  entered  Rome  a victor,^^  his  rival 
Maxentius  having  perished  in  battle  under  the  walls  Trophy  of 
of  the  city,  and  when  the  long-hated  Cross^^  was  pub-  Cross. 
licly  set  up  in  triumph,  the  mighty  revolution  seems  hardly  to 

5*  Euseb.  iv.  23.  52  Euseb.  vii.  5. 

53  Arnobius,  a heathen  rhetorician,  is  said  to  have  been  converted  by  a 
dream.  He  wrote  a work  in  seven  Books  on  the  vanity  of  idols,  and  the 
superstitions  of  the  Gentiles.  He  also  exploded  the  slanders  so  industriously 
circulated  against  the  Christians.  Hieronymus,  in  Addit.  ad  Chronic.  Euseb. 
For  Lactantius,  see  note  to  ch.  ix.  of  this  Book.  54  See  ch  ix.  of  this  Book. 

55  The  following  is  the  inscription  : Hoc  salutari  signo,  vero  fortitudinis 
indicio,  civitatem  vestram  tyrannidis  jugo  liberavi,  et  S.  P.  Q.  R.  in  libertatem 
vindicans,  pristinae  amplitudini  splendorique  restitui.  Euseb.  Life  of  Con- 
stantine ^ i.  31. 

12* 


274 


History  of  the  Church. 


New 

Troubles. 


have  excited  a murmur  among  the  body  of  the  people.  Yet  it 
cannot  be  supposed  that  the  number  of  believers  had  much 
increased  during  the  times  of  the  persecutors.  It  was  rather 
Heathenism  that  heathenism  had  become  unnerved.  Its  strength 
exhausted,  been  quietly  sapped  by  the  pervading  pressure  of 
the  Truth.  Accordingly,  when  the  time  was  fully  come,  its 
ramparts  crumbled  and  fell ; sinking  and  disappearing  without 
apparent  cause,  as  the  walls  of  Jericho  sank  before  the  persist- 
ent faith  of  the  chosen  people. 

But  the  boon  of  external  peace  was  far  from  bringing  with  it 
a corresponding  freedom  from  internal  feuds.  The  persecution 
had  created  a new  sore,  by  exciting  a bitter  feeling 
against  the  traditores : persons,  that  is,  who  under 
fear  of  death  had  betrayed  sacred  books  or  vessels  to  the  im- 
perial satellites.  The  victory,  therefore,  was  hardly  yet  achieved, 
when  the  elements  of  faction,  which  had  so  often  appeared 
before  in  Italy  and  North  Africa,  came  suddenly  to  a head 
once  more  in  the  famous  schism  of  the  Donatists. 

It  was  a dispute  as  to  the  succession  of  the  See  of  Carthage.^^ 
Csecilianus  had  been  elected  against  the  intrigues  of  two  com- 
Donatist  Botrus  and  Celeusius ; but,  unfortunately. 

Schism,  owing  to  these  intrigues,  the  Numidian  Bishops  did 

A.D.  3II.  ^ , 

not  assist  at  the  consecration.  The  disappointed  party 
rallied  a formidable  opposition.  Lucilla,  a lady  of  influence 
and  wealth,  with  certain  of  the  seniores  populi,  got  together  a 
Council  of  seventy  Numidian  Bishops,  who  condemned 
Charges  Csecilianus  on  two  charges.  He  had  been  ordained  by 

against 

Ccecilianus,  a traditoT,  it  was  said, — namely,  by  Felix,  Bishop  of 

^ Aptunga ; he  had  forbidden  food  to  be  carried  to  some 
of  the  Confessors  in  prison.  It  is  probable  enough  that  he  had 
opposed  the  extravagant  devotion  paid  to  these  popular  idols.^^ 

5^  S.  Optati,  De  Schismate  Donaiist.  Ed.  Dupin. 

57  Optatus  says  that  “ Lucilla,  just  before  the  persecution,  was  sharply 
corrected  by  Csecilianus,  then  Archdeacon,  because  in  receiving  the  Sacrament 
she  kept  kissing  a bo7te  of  some  Martyr  or  other,  as  if  she  preferred  that  to 
he  Sacred  Feast.”  De  Sch.  Don.  i.  16. 


Rome  and  the  West 


275 


On  these  grounds  he  was  condemned  by  the  Council ; and 
Majorinus,  a creature  of  Lucilla,  was  made  Bishop  in  his  stead. 
The  consecrator,  in  this  instance,  being  a certain  Do- 

^ ° Donatus. 

natus  Bishop  of  Casae  Nigrae  in  Numidia,  the  Schism 
received  its  name  from  him,  and  its  followers  were  called  Dona- 
tists  or  pars  Donati,  The  name  was  confirmed  to  them  by  the 
rise  of  a second  Donatus,^®  whose  ability  and  zeal  made  him 
afterwards  a prominent  leader  of  the  sect. 

The  question  was  submitted,  on  their  part,  to  the  Emperor 
Constantine, — the  first  instance  of  the  kind  recorded  in  Church 
history;  and  at  his  instance  three  Bishops  of  Gaul  met  Appeal  tii 
in  Council  with  Melchiades  the  Roman  prelate,  and 
fifteen  Italians,  to  put  an  end  to  the  dispute.  Caecili-  a.d.  313! 
anus  was  acknowledged,  and  the  Donatists  were  con-  Donatists 
demned.  The  latter,  being  similarly  rejected  after- 
wards  at  Arles^^  and  other  places,^  broke  off  entirely  314-316. 
from  the  communion  of  the  Church.  Regarding  the  Catholics 
as  corrupt,  apostate,  and  defiled  by  communion  with  traditores^ 
they  would  admit  neither  their  baptism,  ordination,  nor  religious 
vows,  as  of  any  validity  whatsoever. 

The  movement  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  many  bitter  fruits  of 
that  root  Of  bitterness,  which  under  the  successive  forms  of 
Judaic  concisionism,  philosophic  encrateia,  Phrygian  Nature  of 
enthusiasm,  Novatian  rigor,  and  in  short  phariseeism 
in  general,  had  followed  pace  by  pace  the  progress  of  the  Truth, 
and  had  cast  a baleful  shadow  upon  all  its  triumphs.  Africa  had 
suffered  more  from  it  than  any  other  portion  of  the  Church. 


58  S.  Augustin.  De  Hceres.  69. 

59  At  Arles,  Bishops  were  present  from  Gaul,  Italy,  Spain,  Sicily,  Sardinia, 
and  North  Africa,  to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of  two  hundred — S.  Augustin. 
Contra  Epistol.  Parvteniani^  v.  5 — among  whom  were  three  British  Bishops  ; 
Eborius  of  York,  Restitutus  of  London,  Adelfius  of  Lincoln.  See  Bingham, 
ix.  vi.  20. 

^ Appealing  from  the  Synod  at  Arles  to  the  Emperor,  they  were  con- 
demned again  at  Milan ; after  which  they  conducted  themselves  with  greater 
violence. 


276  History  of  the  Church. 

But  it  was  rife  everywhere.  The  Council  of  Eliberis^'  or  Elvira 
Council  0/  Spain,  holden  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Diocle- 
Hivira,  persecution,  is  redolent  of  its  spirit.  The  attempt 

on  the  part  of  a few  to  bind  their  own  virtues  on  the  con- 
sciences of  all,  is  popular  with  the  crowd,  and  even  commends 
itself  to  minds  of  a higher  order.  It  is  honorable  to  the 
great  body  of  the  Clergy  of  the  early  Church,  that  resistance  to 
the  encroachments  of  this  spirit  was  steadfastly  maintained  by 
struggle  0/  them.  They  felt  a responsibility  for  the  weaker  mem- 
agj^st^  bers  of  the  flock,  which  brought  them  often  into  con- 
tke  strong.  hard  and  narrow  notions  of  influential 

laymen,  especially  of  the  class  of  Confessors.  While  they  hon- 
ored the  martyr-spirit,  they  were  forced  to  put  a check  upon  the 
extravagances  which  so  frequently  flowed  from  such  honor. 
Hence  the  charge  of  starving  the  Confessors  brought  against 
Caecilianus.  Hence  the  unpopularity  of  his  sober  predecessor 
Mensurius  of  whom  we  learn  that,  owing  to  the  number  of 
Martyrs,  he  excluded  from  the  List  the  names  of  those  who  had 
put  themselves  in  the  way  of  persecution.  Hence,  in  short,  a 
struggle  so  close,  so  deadly,  so  confused  at  times,  that  it  is 
difficult  in  many  cases  to  distinguish  which  side  of  the  line  the 

In  this  austere  Council,  Hosius  of  Cordova  was  present,  afterwards 
famous  in  connection  with  the  Arian  controversy.  It  forbade  absolution  to 
the  lapsed  even  at  the  point  of  death,  prohibited  the  Clergy,  even  Subdeacons, 
from  the  use  of  marriage ; ordered  double  fasts  for  every  month  except  July 
and  August,  etc.,  etc.  It  was,  in  fact,  more  like  a Novatian  than  a Catholic 
Council.  Nineteen  Bishops  and  twenty-six  Priests  were  present. 

He  saved  the  sacred  Books  by  a stratagem : carrying  them  off  and 
hiding  them,  he  put  in  their  place  in  the  Church  a collection  of  heretical 
writings.  When  the  officers  came  in  quest  of  them,  therefore,  he  readily  sur- 
rendered all  that  could  be  found  in  the  Church.  The  trick  was  afterwards 
revealed  to  the  Proconsul,  who  summoned  Mensurius  into  his  presence.  The 
latter  entrusted  the  sacred  treasures  to  some  of  the  Senioresy  but,  fearing  that 
he  might  not  return  home  again,  took  the  precaution  to  make  out  a list  of  them, 
and  committed  it  to  the  charge  of  an  elderly  woman.  The  Senior es  proved 
false  to  their  trust ; but  the  list  remained,  and  the  memory  of  Mensurius  was 
vindicated.  S.  Optat.  De  Schism.  Donat, 


Rome  and  the  West.  277 

Church  occupied  ; and  in  which  truth  itself  seemed  more  or  less 
divided. 

However  this  may  be,  Donatism  continued  for  three  centu- 
ries to  devastate  the  African  Church.  Constantine  endeavored 
to  conciliate  it  by  lenient  measures.  But  it  claimed  Religious 
everything,  and  was  averse  to  peace.  Among  the  half- 
converted  savages  of  the  rural  districts  it  became  an  uncon- 
trollable frenzy,  defying  the  utmost  force  of  the  civil  power  to 
suppress  it,  and  involving  Catholics  and  schismatics  alike  in  the 
complicated  horrors  of  civil  and  religious  wars.^^  Jt  was  finally 
extinguished,  only  through  the  downfall  of  African  Christianity 
itself,  by  the  overrunning  floods  of  Vandal  and  Saracen  invasion. 

The  long'Continued  struggle  with  these  uncompromising  and 
bitter  heretics  strengthened  the  union  that  existed  between 
the  daughter  Church  of  Carthage  and  her  Roman  Rome  the 
mother;  and  placed  the  latter  more  decidedly  than 
ever  at  the  head  of  the  cause,  not  only  of  Italian  but 
of  North  African  orthodoxy.  Indeed,  throughout  the  West,  to 
be  in  communion  with  Rome  was  to  hate  Novatianism,  to  abhor 
the  Donatists.  In  proportion,  therefore,  to  the  length  and  bit- 
terness of  the  war  with  these  rigid  and  powerful  sects,  the  ties 
that  bound  the  provincial  Churches  to  the  great  metropolitan 
standard-bearer  became  day  by  day  more  numerous  and  more 
strong. 

And  the  Roman  Church  was  the  more  decidedly  committed 
to  this  position  from  the  fact  that  the  Donatists,  claiming  to  be 
exclusively  the  Body  of  Christ,  established  an  Episco-  ^ 

pal  succession  of  their  own  in  the  imperial  city.  This  the  Chair 
line  of  Bishops  ran  on  till  the  times  of  Pope  Siricius, 
and  gave  occasion  to  the  orthodox  to  dwell  more  than  had  pre- 
viously been  the  case  upon  the  succession  from  S.  Peter,  as  a test 
of  the  Catholic  Church, — of  the  Catholic  Church,  namely,  in 

^3  For  a vivid  account  of  the  CircMmcelliones,  see  Milman’s  Hisi.  of 
Christianity, 

^4  S.  Optat.  De  Schism,  Donat,  lib.  ii.  2.  The  Donatists,  he  argues,  could 
count  their  Bishops  back  through  Macrobius,  Encolpius,  Bonifacius,  to  Victor, 


278 


History  of  the  Church. 

the  city  of  Rome.  The  constant  repetition  of  this  argument, 
legitimate  enough  in  the  question  between  the  two  lines  of  Bish- 
ops in  Rome  and  Carthage,  had  the  effect  nevertheless  of  unduly 
exalting  the  position  of  the  great  Western  See,  and  in  course  of 
time  opened  the  way  for  encroachments  upon  the  rights  of  other 
Churches.  In  this  way  the  Donatist  Schism  became  a most  im- 
portant element  in  the  History  of  the  Latin  Church. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  SCHOOL  QF  ANTIOCH. 

While  the  West  was  thus  absorbed  in  questions  of  discipline  or 
The  East  of  practical  religious  life,  the  more  speculative  East 
Theological.  intent  on  theology  proper  ; Antioch  and  Alexan- 
dria continuing  to  be  the  centres  of  activity  in  this  direction. 

Antioch,  the  head  of  the  Syrian  Churches,  with  more  or  less 
of  a patriarchal  influence  over  Cilicia,  Phoenicia,  Comagene, 
Osrhoene,  and  Mesopotamia,*  had  shared  very  largely  in  that 
general  awakening  of  thought  which  distinguished  the  latter 
Theophiius,  half  of  the  second  century.  Theophilus,  the  sixth 
A.D.  i8i.  Bishop  in  descent  from  the  Apostles,  a convert  from 
heathen  philosophy,  was  among  the  foremost  in  this  respect. 
He  wrote  against  Marcion,  Hermogenes,  and  other  heretics ; left 
Trias  or  RR  Apology  in  three  Books,  noted  for  elegance  of 
Trimias.  ^^g  among  the  first  to  introduce  the  word 

Trias  or  Trinity  into  common  use  among  theological  writers.* 

who  was  sent  from  Africa  to  Rome  in  the  time  of  Constantine : the  Roman 
Bishops  could  trace  back  their  line  to  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul.  It  was  obvious, 
therefore,  that  the  claim  which  the  Donatists  made  to  the  See  of  Peter  had 
no  historic  foundation. 

* See  Bingham’s  Antiquities,  ix.  ii.  9. 

* The  three  Persons  of  the  Trinity  he  distinguished  as  God,  the  Word^ 
Wisdom. 


The  Church  and  School  of  Antioch.  279 


At  this  period  discussions  with  heretics,  both  oral  and  in  writing, 
employed  much  of  the  time  and  demanded  all  the  skill  of  the 
chief  pastors  of  the  Church.  Such  discussions  necessarily  led  to 
the  study  of  philosophy  and  dialectics,  and  to  a more  critical 
and  searching  examination  of  the  sacred  text. 

S.  Babylas,3  the  twelfth  in  the  succession,  distinguished  him- 
self as  a bold  and  prudent  leader  during  the  temporary  occu- 
pancy of  Antioch  by  the  Persian  king  Sapor  ; and  was 
afterwards  a Martyr  in  the  Decian  persecution.  As  he  Martyr^ 

...  A.D.  250. 

was  led  to  execution,  he  lifted  up  his  voice  in  a song 
of  triumph,  ^‘Return  unto  thy  rest,  O my  soul,  for  the  Lord 
hath  dealt  bountifully  with  me.’’  Three  youthful  disciples  suf- 
fered with  him.  As  the  officer  was  taking  off  their  heads,  the 
saint  cried  aloud,  ‘‘Behold,  I and  the  children  which  the  Lord 
hath  given  me.” 

When  the  Novatian  troubles  broke  out  at  Rome,  Fabius,  the 
immediate  successor  of  Babylas,  took  part  with  the 
schismatics  and  summoned  a Council,  to  which  he  in- 
vited also  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  He  died,  however,  before 
the  Council  could  assemble : and  when  it  finally  came 

, Novatian 

together,  the  cause  of  Novatian  was  condemned,  condemned, 
Fabius  was  succeeded  by  Demetrianus,  and  Deme- 
trianus  by  that  arch-innovator  in  doctrine  and  in  morals,  Paul 
of  Samosata. 

The  latter  was  no  sooner  seated  in  the  episcopal  chair,  than 
he  began  to  give  general  offence.  His  pravity  has  been  vari- 
ously ascribed  to  a Judaizing  leaven  still  working  in  ^ 
the  Syrian  Church,^  to  intimacy  with  the  new  Plato-  Samosata, 

^ ^ . A.D.  262. 

nists,  who  were  then  at  the  height  of  their  celebrity  or 
finally  to  his  own  ambitious  and  frivolous  disposition.  Much 
stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  last  of  these.  Not  content  with 
the  profound  respect  universally  paid  to  the  Clergy,  he  affected 
much  of  the  state  and  assumed  the  airs  of  a man  of  the  world, 
a philosopher,  and  bel  esprit.  He  thus  identified  himself  with  a 

3 Cave’s  Lives  of  the  Fathers,  vol.  i. ; S.  Chrysost.  lib.  de  S.  Babyl. 

^Newman’s  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century,  chap.  i.  \ i. 


Fabius. 


28o 


History  of  the  Church. 

refined  and  intellectual  but  vainglorious  circle,  which  flour- 
ished at  that  time  in  the  luxurious  capital  of  the  East,  cherished 
Court  of  hy  the  smiles  of  Zenobia,  the  renowned  and  brilliant 
Zenobia.  queen  of  Palmyra.  The  famous  Longinus  was  one  of 
their  great  lights.  With  Christianity  as  a religion  they  had 
little  to  do ; but  for  Christianity  as  a philosophic  system,  based 
upon  writings  remarkable  for  their  sublimity  and  beauty,  they 
could  hardly  fail  to  entertain  a certain  respect.  To  win  such 
men,  and  to  make  Christian  life  and  doctrine  palatable  to  them, 
may  possibly  have  been  an  object  with  such  a man  as  Paul.  But 
the  bulk  of  believers  were  too  sturdy  and  too  real  to  feel  much 
sympathy  with  such  liberality.  Paul  became  odious  to  his 
brethren  in  proportion  as  he  commended  himself  to  a more 
cpurtly  circle. 

He  was  accused  of  pride,  arrogance,  luxury,  and  venality. 
The  hymns  commonly  sung  to  Christ  as  God,  and  which  had 
special  been  all  along  a chief  bulwark  of  the  Creed,  he  de- 
^gaintt  dared  to  be  mere  novelties  of  the  date  of  the  Roman 
Paul.  Bishop  Victor,^  and  forbade  them  to  be  used  in  his 
Church  any  more.  In  their  place  he  substituted  verses  of  his 
own  composition,  sung  with  great  eclat  by  a trained  choir  of 
women.  He  held,  or  acted  as  if  he  held,  the  office  of  duce- 
narius  and  delighted  to  be  seen  in  the  forum  attended  by  a 
crowd,  and  seemingly  absorbed  in  a multiplicity  of  business. 
In  religious  affairs  also  he  affected  much  state ; preached  with 
vehement  gesticulations ; and  encouraged  the  bad  practice, 
afterwards  shamefully  prevalent  in  the  Church,  of  applauding 
the  eloquence  of  the  preacher,  instead  of  hearkening  to  his 
message  in  respectful  silence.  He  connived  at  the  abuse,  on 
the  part  of  the  Clergy,  of  living  on  too  familiar  terms  with 
adopted  virgin  sisters^’;  and  set  a scandalous  example  in  this 
respect.  To  crown  all,  he  took  care  to  lay  people  under  so 

5 Compare  Euseb.  v.  28,  and  vii.  30. 

^ It  is  hard  to  say,  from  the  letter  of  the  Bishops  (Euseb.  vii.  30),  whether 
he  held  such  an  office,  or  only  affected  the  style  of  it.  The  office  was  named 
from  the  salary,  viz.,  200,cxx)  sesleri. 


28r 


The  Chmxh  and  School  of  Antioch. 

many  obligations,  or  so  to  intimidate  them  by  his  threats  and 
frowns,  that  hardly  any  one  could  be  found  to  come  forward  as 
an  accuser  or  witness  against  him 

Such  charges,  in  this  and  similar  cases,  may  have  arisen  in 
part  from  theological  resentment,  and  from  the  general  preva- 
lence in  the  Church  of  austere  views.  The  earnest- 

Heresy 

ness  with  which  they  were  urged,  however,  is  an  and  EvU 

o ^ ^ ^ Ltuifig, 

interesting  fact,  as  showing  that  corruptness  of  living 
could  not  be  dissociated  as  yet  from  corruptions  in  the  Faith. 

The  error  of  Paul,  like  that  of  Ebion,  Theodotus,  and  Arte- 
mon,  consisted  in  a denial  of  the  personal  preexistence  of 
Christ,  and,  of  course,  in  a denial  of  the  Trinity,  ex-  Error  of 
cept  in  such  sense  as  could  be  reconciled  with  Neo- 
Platonic  views.  Jesus  he  believed  to  have  been  a mere  man, 
though  miraculously  conceived  and  supernaturally  fa-  Humani^ 
vored.  To  this  man,  growing  up  in  sinless  perfection, 
the  Divine  Word  or  Reason  became  united.  Jesus  thus  dwells 
in  the  Divine  Wisdom,  He  is  clothed  with  it.  He  participates  in 
it.  That  He  is  the  Divine  Wisdom  Paul  was  unwilling  to  con- 
fess. He  believed  in  Plim  and  adored  Him  as  a sort  of  deified 
man. 7 

Alarmed  by  these  novel  views,  which  commended  themselves 
both  to  the  Judaizing  and  philosophizing  circles  of  the  court, 
and  which  seem  to  have  been  conveyed  in  the  form  of  Appeal  to 
captious  and  sceptical  inquiries  rather  than  in  clear 
definitions,^  the  Antiochean  clergy  acted  on  the  principle  of 
which  so  many  precedents  had  already  been  afforded,  and  ap- 
plied for  relief  to  the  neighboring  Bishops.  Dionysius  of  Alex- 
andria, Hymenaeus  of  Jerusalem,  Firmilianus  the  learned  prelate 

7 The  heresy  of  Paul  is  quite  fully  discussed  in  Mosheim’s  Hist,  Cotn- 
mentaries  on  the  First  Three  Centuries,  See,  also,  Gieseler,  Eccl,  Hist,  ^ 6o, 
note  12. 

^ His  Ten  Queries,  not  particularly  well  answered  by  Dionysius  of  Alex- 
andria (if  the  Answer  to  the  Ten  Queries  be  his),  embrace  most  of  the  diffi- 
cult passages  of  the  New  Testament,  in  which  our  Lord  is  spoken  of  according 
to  His  humanity.  See  Mansi,  Concil.,  Council  of  Antioch, 


282 


History  of  the  Church. 


Two 

Councils. 


Third 
Council  of 
A ntioch.^ 
A.D.  269. 

Death  of 
Firmilian. 


of  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia,  and  other  distinguished  pastors, 
were  written  to  and  invited  to  intervene.  Dionysius  could  not 
come  to  Antioch  ; but  after  a sharp  correspondence  with  Paul,^ 
wrote  to  the  Church  a letter  condemnatory  of  him,  purposely 
omitting  the  customary  form  of  salutation  to  the  Bishop.  The 
other  chief  pastors  assembled  once  and  perhaps  twice 
in  Council ; but,  owing  to  the  evasions  of  Paul  and 
the  moderate  counsels  of  Firmilianus,  were  satisfied  with  vague 
promises  of  repentance  and  amendment. 

The  abuses  and  false  teaching  still  going  on,  a third  Council 
of  the  Church  had  to  be  assembled  ; on  his  way  to 
which,  Firmilianus,  one  of  the  worthiest  and  most 
respected  of  the  prelates  of  his  times,  was  taken  sud- 
denly ill  and  departed  this  life  in  peace.  He  was  a 
disciple  and  warm  friend  of  Origen  ; had  taken  part 
in  a great  Council  at  Iconium,  in  which  Montanist  baptism  was 
rejected  by  the  Bishops  of  Phrygia,  Galatia,  Cilicia,  and  Cap- 
padocia ; and,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a staunch  supporter  of 
Cyprian  in  his  controversy  with  Stephen.  It  was  owing  to  his 
high  character  rather  than  to  the  eminence  of  his  See,  that  he 
exerted  so  great  an  influence  in  the  matter  of  Paul.  In 

Malchion.  y.  r y ^ /'A*'! 

his  absence,  Malchion,  a Presbyter  of  Antioch,  a 
sophist  by  education,  and  head  of  the  Catechetical  School, 
seems  to  have  been  the  guiding  and  controlling  spirit.  Hith- 
erto, Paul  had  been  examined  chiefly  as  to  what  he 
held,  and  by  a skilful  use  of  phrases,  or  by  vague  pro- 
fessions of  behef  in  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  had  man- 
aged to  conceal  his  errors.  Malchion  questioned  him  more 
closely  as  to  what  he  denied.^®  By  this  the  heresy  was  un- 
covered. In  an  encyclical  letter  addressed  ‘^to  Dionysius  and 


PauVs 

Error 

detected. 


9 Without  accepting  the  letters  (given  in  Mansi,  Concilia)  as  genuine,  I 
cannot  but  believe  there  was  some  such  correspondence.  The  assertion  of 
the  Council  that  Dionysius  wrote  without  condescending  to  notice  Paul,  ap- 
plies only  to  the  letter  laid  before  the  Council. 

*0  Such,  at  least,  is  the  spirit  of  the  questions  given  in  Mansi,  Concilia  : 
c.  g.,  ‘^;ion  concedis  filium  unigenitum  ...  in  toto  salvatore  bvccuOaij^*  etc. 


The  Church  and  School  of  Antioch.  283 


Maximus,”  and  to  all  other  fellow-ministers  throughout  the 
world,  Bishops  and  Presbyters  and  Deacons,  and  to  Letter  of 
the  whole  Catholic  Church  throughout  the  world  in  all 
places  under  heaven  ; ''  and  written  in  the  name  of  Helenus, 
Hymenseus,  Theophilus,  Theotecnus  . . . and  Malchion  and 
Lucius,  and  others  who  are  Bishops,  Presbyters,  or  Deacons, 
. . . together  with  the  Churches  of  God:’’  the  condemna- 
tion of  Paul,  with  the  appointment  of  Domnus  in  his  Paul  and 
stead,  was  formally  promulged  and  commended  to  the  -Oomnus. 
faithful  everywhere.  “We  have  communicated  this  to  you,” 
is  their  language  to  the  Roman  Pontiff,  that  you  may  write 
and  receive  letters  from  him  ’ ’ (namely,  from  Domnus,  who  had 
been  elected  in  the  place  of  Paul);  “but  the  other  (namely, 
Paul)  may  write  to  Artemas  if  he  pleases,  and  those  that  think 
with  Artemas  may  have  communion  with  him.”” 

This  transaction,  so  public,  so  formal,  so  deliberate,  involving 
a cause  and  a person  of  the  highest  importance,  participated  in 
by  the  foremost  prelates  of  the  times,  and  unanimously 
concurred  in  by  all  the  Churches,  is  a striking  illustra- 
tion of  the  Catholic  unity  of  this  period.  It  is  obvious  that  this 
unity  involved  no  supremacy  of  any  particular  See.  no Supreme 
The  Council  wrote  to  the  Roman  Bishop  as  to  all  other 
prelates  and  Churches,  merely  to  inform  him  of  what  had  been 
done,  and  to  show  him  where  he  should  extend  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship. 

It  is  an  equrhy  striking  illustration  of  the  firmness  and 
decision  with  which  the  essentials  of  the  Faith  were  held.  So 
long  as  the  question  could  be  made  to  turn  on  a mere  oneness  in 
word — namely,  on  the  force  of  the  term  consubstan- 
tiaH^ — Paul  was  able  by  his  sophistry  to  blind  the  eyes  of  his 

That  is,  Dionysius  of  Rome  and  Maximus  of  Alexandria,  the  latter 
having  succeeded  Dionysius  the  Great  in  that  See  a short  time  before. 

Euseb.  vii.  30. 

*3  The  term  was  not  accepted  by  the  Council,  because  in  the  skilful  hands 
of  a man  like  Paul  it  could  easily  be  made  to  bear  a Sabellian  interpretation. 
When  it  was  afterwards  adopted  in  the  Council  of  Nice,  it  was  with  an  express 
understanding  that  the  Sabellian  gloss  was  not  to  be  admitted.  It  shows, 


Catholic 

Unity. 


284 


History  of  the  Church. 

brethren.  But  when  it  came  to  the  point  of  a simple  affirmation 
or  denial  of  the  proper  divinity  of  Christ,  there  was  room  for  no 
further  evasions.  On  that  subject,  at  least,  the  mind  of  the 
Church  was  clear. 

After  the  sentence  of  the  Council  the  party  of  Paul  still  held 
together,  under  the  protection  of  Zenobia,  and  Domnus  was 
Sect  of  unable  to  get  possession  of  the  episcopal  abode.  But 
Paul.  when  Zenobia  had  been  conquered  by  Aurelian,  the 
question  was  referred,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  Italian  Bishops, 
who  adjudged  the  Church  property  to  the  orthodox  side.  A sect 
of  Paulites,  however,  or  Samosatenians,  continued  in  existence 
during  the  rest  of  the  century. 

The  struggle  with  this  heresy  had  an  influence,  perhaps  good 
in  the  main,  though  not  unmixed  with  evil,  upon  the  theological 
School 0/  development  of  the  Antiochean  Church.  A good  effect 
Antioch,  increased  interest  awakened  in  the  study  of  the 

Doroihrus.  Scoptures.  Dorotheus,  a Presbyter  learned  in  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  who  flourished  till  the  times  of  Julian  the  Apostate, 
Eusebius,  was  a leader  in  this  direction.  So  also  Eusebius  of 
Alexandria,  who  had  been  sent  by  Dionysius  to  take 
Anatolius,  part  in  the  controversy  against  Paul,  and  Anatolius,  an 
Aristotelian  and  eminent  mathematician.  There  were,  in  short, 
many  learned  men,"^  with  much  study,  much  discussion,  much 
effort  to  reconcile  religion  with  what  was  then  considered  science, 
— much  earnest  and  thoughtful,  and  in  some  cases,  it  would  seem, 
skeptical  investigation. 

The  Aristotelian  method,  which  is  better  fitted  for  the  detec- 
tion of  bad  reasoning  than  for  the  discovery  of  truth,  was  much 
Bias  ^ in  vogue  there.  There  was  also  a vicious  habit  of 
Error.  making  sacred  themes  the  subjects  of  school  exercises 
in  declamation  or  debate.  In  addition  to  all  this,  there  was 

however,  the  weakness  of  the  best-considered  words  in  defining  the  Faith,  that 
notwithstanding  this  precaution,  there  was  a tendency  among  some  of  the  most 
earnest  advocates  of  the  Nicene  Creed  to  fall  back  into  the  error  of  Sabellius 
or  into  that  of  Paul.  Marcellus  of  Ancyra  was  an  eminent  example  of  this. 

'4  Euseb.  vii.  32. 


The  Church  and  School  of  Antioch.  285 

a subtle  influence  of  the  Judaizing  spirit ; the  existence  of  which 
was  indicated  by  the  fact  that  Quartodecimanism  began  to  revive 
in  Antioch  towards  the  close  of  the  century though  in  other 
quarters  it  had  sensibly  declined. 

Among  the  teachers  who  gave  celebrity  at  this  period  to 
the  School  of  Antioch,  Lucian,  surnamed  the  Martyr,  LucUn 
labored  with  great  zeal  in  the  text  of  holy  Scripture, 
but,  falling  into  errors  akin  to  those  of  Paul,  seems  to 
have  merited  the  bad  name  of  father  of  the  Arian  heresy.'®  His 
fault  was  atoned,  in  the  eyes  of  contemporaries,  by  a Father  of 
glorious  martyrdom.  It  was  revived,  however,  in  the 
memory  of  posterity,  by  the  marked  pravity  of  his  disciples, 
Arius,  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  Maris  of  Chalcedon,  Theognis  of 
Nicaea,  Leontius  of  Antioch,  Asterius,  and  other  distinguished 
men  and  women  afterwards  notorious  in  the  Arian  strife.  At  a 
later  period,  Chrysostom  somewhat  redeemed  the  character  of 
this  School ; but  what  it  gained  in  him,  it  lost  in  the  person  of 
the  heretic  Nestorius. 

The  Christians  of  Antioch  seem  to  have  suffered  less  from 
persecution  than  their  brethren  in  other  places,  and  to  have 
enjoyed  on  the  whole  a larger  freedom.  From  the  ^ ^ 
fury  of  Diocletian,  however,  or  rather  of  Maximin,  ^om  o/ 
they  did  not  escape  so  easily.  Among  others  that 
suffered,  Lucian  was  carried  a prisoner  to  Nicomedia,  where  by 
his  fervid  exhortations  he  restored  some  who  had  fallen  from  the 
Faith,  and  prepared  them  for  a martyr’s  crown.  He  was  starved 
to  death  in  prison.  His  fellow-prisoners,  it  is  said,'^  being  at  a 
loss  for  an  altar  on  which  to  celebrate  the  Lord’s  Supper,  he  laid 
himself  out  on  his  back  and  said  to  them.  This  breast  shall  be 

*5  Tillemont,  Mem,  vol.  iii.  makes  the  cessation  of  Quartodecimanism  in 
Asia  more  absolute  than  is  warranted  by  his  authorities.  See  Letter  of  Con- 
stantine to  the  Churches,  Socrat.  Hist.  i.  9 ; and  on  the  subject  of  this  para- 
graph generally,  see  Newman’s  ArianSy  i.  i. 

Arius  claimed  him — Theodoret.  Eccl.  Hist.  i.  5 ; and  the  Catholics 
more  or  less  admitted  the  claim — Theod.  i.  4. 

*7  Apud  Stiriumy  Jan.  7. 


286 


History  of  the  Church. 

your  Table,  and  you  standing  round  shall  be  my  holy  Temple. 
A Living  this  posture  he  continued  for  fourteen  days,  till 
at  last  with  the  simple  confession,  I am  a Christian,  he 
departed  in  the  peace  of  God. 

But,  as  usual  in  times  of  trial,  there  were  many  weak  souls 
unable  to  endure  the  torments  or  put  up  with  the  disgraces  to 
Desperate  which  the  tyrants  resorted.*^  Besides  those  who  lapsed, 
shifts,  some  were  driven  to  the  alternative  of  self-destruction. 
Two  virgins  of  Antioch,  well  known  in  the  city  for  their  rank 
and  beauty,  drowned  themselves  to  escape  the  hands  of  the 
soldiers.  Similar  acts  of  desperation  occurred  everywhere,  and 
are  impartially  recorded  by  the  early  Church.  The  history  of 
martyrdom  is  not  a record  of  heroism  only,  or  of  unsullied 
faith ; it  abounds  with  most  instructive  lessons  of  all  possible 
shades  of  human  frailty  and  imperfection. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  EGYPTIAN  CHURCH. 

Whatever  there  was  of  good  in  the  labors  of  Origen,  remained 
and  stamped  itself  upon  the  Church  mind  of  his  age.  His 
Origen' s numerous  disciples  were  able,  orthodox,  and  highly 
Disciples,  influential  teachers.  That  they  inherited  so  much  of 
the  solid  merit  and  so  little  of  the  extravagance  of  their  master, 
may  be  fairly  attributed  to  the  firm  stand  taken  against  the  latter 
by  Demetrius  and  the  Alexandrine  Church.* 

Dionysius,  surnamed  the  Great,  a convert  from  heathenism 
Dionysius,  ^md  a man  of  large  learning,  elected  to  the  Episcopate 
A.D.  247.  Alexandria  the  second  in  order  after  Demetrius,  was 
one  of  the  most  eminent  of  these  disciples.  Like  his  master, 
*8  Euseb.  viii.  12,  13. 

*On  this  chapter,  see  Neale’s  Holy  Eastern  Church\  Eusebius.  Eccl. 
Hist,  vi.  26,  30,  35,  and  parts  of  Book  VII. 


The  Egyptian  Church.  287 

he  had  been  for  some  time  at  the  head  of  the  Catechetical 
School.  The  habit  of  examining  and  proving  all  things  had 
been  the  means,  under  God,  of  bringing  him  to  the  Truth.  He 
persisted  in  the  habit;  and  that  he  might  be  ‘‘a  wise  money- 
changer,’quick  in  the  detection  of  spiritual  counterfeits,  he 
gave  much  of  his  time  to  the  perusal  of  heretical  and  philosophic 
books : — what  scruples  he  had  on  the  subject  being  specially 
removed  by  a vision.  He  thus  qualified  himself  to  take  an  in- 
telligent part  in  the  questions  of  the  day. 

His  noble  conduct  in  the  Decian  and  Valerian  persecutions, 
and  in  the  great  plague  that  followed,  has  already  been  alluded 
to  in  the  third  chapter  of  this  Book.  It  shows  his  his  Nohie 
thorough  good  sense,  that,  in  the  latter  calamity,  he 
caused  those  who  did  their  duty,  and  perished  in  ministering  to 
the  sick,  to  be  enrolled  in  the  rank  of  Martyrs. 

Like  Cyprian,  his  great  contemporary,  he  kept  up  the  friend- 
liest relations  with  the  Roman  Church.  In  the  schism  that  broke 
out  there,  having  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  He  opposes 
merits  of  the  case,  he  took  the  side  of  Cornelius ; and 
when  Novatian  wrote  to  him,  by  way  of  apology,  that  he  had 
been  forced  against  his  will  to  take  the  Bishopric,  he  exposed  the 
hollowness  of  the  pretence  by  quietly  advising  him  to  resign. ^ 
On  the  vexed  question  of  the  day,  the  treatment,  namely,  of 
those  who  had  fallen  from  the  Faith,  the  Alexandrine  rule  was 
milder  than  that  which-  commonly  prevailed.  In  the  West  it  was 
considered  a great  stretch  of  charity  that  those  who  had  given 
evidence  of  repentance  before  being  taken  with  a mortal  illness, 
should  be  allowed  the  communion  at  their  death.  In  Lenity  to 
Alexandria,  the  indulgence  was  granted  without  refer- 
ence  to  the  time  at  which  penitence  began.  Novatian  severity, 
therefore,  won  little  favor  there.  So  widely,  however,  had  the 
seeds  of  that  error  been  scattered  through  the  world,  and  so 
strong  was  the  leaning  towards  austere  views,  that  Dionysius 

2 “ Be  ye  wise  money-changers,” — a saying  attributed  to  our  Lord,  or  to 
some  one  of  His  Apostles. 

3 Euseb.  vi.  45. 


288 


History  of  the  Church. 

found  it  necessary  to  warn  his  people  on  the  subject,  both  orally 
and  in  writing.  He  wrote,  also,  against  Novatian  to  the  Churches 
of  Armenia  and  Asia  Minor ; looked  with  much  concern  upon 
the  effort  made  by  Fabius  in  Antioch  to  have  the  heresy  endorsed 
by  a Council  of  that  Church ; and  it  was  through  his  influence 
mainly  that  the  Council,  when  convened,  decided  against  the 
wishes  of  their  recently  departed  Bishop.  A little  while  later 
The  Bisk-  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  announcing  to  the  Roman 
ops  united,  ^\\  Cliurches  of  the  East,  previously 

divided  on  the  subject,  were  restored  to  peace,  and  that  all  the 
chief  pastors  were  in  a state  of  delightful  concord. 

The  cultivated  tone  of  the  Alexandrine  Church  rendered  it 
comparatively  free  from  the  sensuous  or  enthusiastic  heresies. 

In  Arsinoe,  however,  and  the  surrounding  district,  the 

Chiliasm. 

Millenarians  effected  a lodgment  for  awhile ; their  literal 
interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse  having  gained  an  eloquent 
^ expositor  in  the  person  of  one  Nepos,^  a Bishop  of 
good  character,  who  by  hymns  and  discourses  and 
pungent  confutation  of  the  Allegorists,  as  the  opposite  party 
were  called,  stimulated  the  popular  expectation  of  a temporal 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  After  his  death,  his  followers  began 
to  withdraw  from  communion.  Being  simple-minded  men,  they 
had  a vague  feeling,  perhaps,  that  the  Church  was  becoming  too 
Charity  scholarly  and  too  intellectual.^  Dionysius  made  a visit 
Victorious,  disaffected  region;  invited  the  Clergy  and  people 

to  a public  conference ; conciliated  them  by  warm  expressions  of 

4 Baronius  contends  that  the  letter  refers  to  the  question  of  Rebaptizing ; 
in  proof  of  which  he  urges  that  Antioch  was  the  only  part  of  the  East  dis- 
turbed by  Novatianism.  There  is  no  ground  for  this  assertion.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  fact  is  patent  that  Dionysius  wrote  on  the  subject  of  Novatianism  to 
many  Churches.  In  addition  to  which  it  is  to  be  noticed  that,  in  the  letter  to 
Dionysius  of  Rome,  Demetrianus^  the  immediate  successor  of  Fabius,  is  par- 
ticularly mentioned  among  the  harmonized  Bishops.  See  Euseb.  Eccl,  Hist, 
vii.  25.  5 Euseb.  vii,  24. 

^ Observe  the  slightly  patronizing  but  kindly  and  charitable  way  in  which 
Dionysius  praises  the  village  presbyters  and  teachers  who  met  him  in 
conference.  Euseb.  vii.  24. 


289 


The  Egyptian  Church. 

esteem  for  their  departed  Bishop;  made  many  judicious  conces- 
sions; and  finally,  after  three  days  of  charitable  discussion,  con- 
vinced them  of  the  sin  and  folly  of  their  course.  In  the  agitation 
of  this  subject,  the  letter  of  the  Apocalypse  gave  him  so  much 
trouble  that  he  was  disposed  to  question  the  authority  of  the  Book. 
But,  with  his  usual  moderation,  he  refrained  from  rejecting 
‘‘what  so  many  of  the  brethren  highly  esteemed.*'  Suspecting 
“ a sense  in  it  that  lay  deeper  than  words,"  he  was  content 
“to  admire  it  the  more  " in  proportion  as  his  “reason  failed  to 
sound  the  depths  of  its  meaning."  He  argued,  however,  that 
it  was  written  by  some  other  than  S.  John  the  Apostle. ^ 

In  the  Baptismal  controversy,  Dionysius  was  more  anxious 
for  peace  than  for  victory  to  either  side.  His  own  mind,  it 
would  seem,  was  not  quite  made  up  on  the  subject.®  Baptismal 
He  had  before  him  the  case  of  those,  who,  having  left 
the  Church,  had  afterwards  returned ; or  who,  having  been 
initiated  in  some  sect,  had  received  from  them  a baptism  pro- 
fane and  even  blasphemous  in  form  ; or  of  those  whose  doubtful 
or  defective  baptism  had  been  covered,  as  it  were,  by  long  com- 
munion in  the  Church.  Whether  he  contemplated  distinctly 
the  question  of  a baptism  unobjectionable  in  form,  but 
defective  in  respect  of  an  authorized  minister,  the  extracts 
from  his  writings  given  by  Eusebius  are  insufficient  to  deter- 
mine. However  this  may  be,  he  had  no  sym-  pacific 
pathy  with  the  arbitrary  course  of  the  Roman 
Bishop.  “The  custom**  (of  rebaptizing),  he  urged,  “is 
not  now  introduced  for  the  first  time,  nor  in  the  African 
Church  only.  It  was  known  long  ere  this,  under  Bishops  before 
us,  and  in  populous  provinces ; approving  itself  to  the  Synods 
holden  at  Iconium  and  Synnada,  and  to  many  of  the  brethren. 

7 His  doubts  were  based  chiefly  on  differences  of  style,  which  he  points 
out  with  much  acuteness  in  the  manner  of  modern  criticism,  but  in  a more 
reverential  spirit.  See  Euseb.  vii.  25. 

® Neale’s  positive  declaration,  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  rebaptizers,  is 
not  warranted  at  all  by  the  passages  cited  in  its  favor  : Holy  East.  Churchy  i.  7. 
See  Euseb.  vii.  5,  9. 

13 


290 


History  of  the  Church. 


I cannot  bear  that  they  should  be  embroiled  by  a reversal  of 
their  decisions.  For  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  not  remove  the 
landmarks  of  thy  neighbors,  which  thy  fathers  have  set.’^ 

This  temperate  course  did  much  towards  allaying  the  heat  of 
the  controversy;  the  renewal  of  persecution,  under  the  Emperor 
^ Valerian,  probably  did  more.  During  the  prevalence 

tion,  of  this  Storm,  the  forty-two  months  of  which  natur- 

A.D.  257.  suggested  visions  of  Antichrist,  Dionysius  being 

banished  from  his  See  to  Cephron  in  Libya,  labored  for  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel  in  the  parts  thereabout,  and  wrote  two 
Paschal  of  epistles  called  Paschal  Letters.  The  custom  of 
Letters.  announcing  to  the  Church  the  beginning  of  Lent 

and  Easter  Day,  with  religious  exhortations  suitable  to  the  sea- 
son, became  a prerogative  of  the  See  of  Alexandria,  and  was 
confirmed  to  it  by  canon  in  the  great  Council  of  Nicaea. 

In  the  Sabellian  controversy  with  some  of  the  Clergy  of  Pen- 
tapolis,  already  referred  to  in  the  fourth  chapter  of 

Sabellian  , . -r>  , 1 • 1 • o 1 t ^ 

Contra-  tliis  Book,  and  in  the  painful  proceedings  connected 

versy,  ' 

with  Paul  of  Samosata,  an  important  step  was  made 
towards  that  distinctness  of  conception  with  regard  to  the  great 
verities  of  the  Creed,  which  was  becoming  more  and  more 
necessary  to  the  continuance  of  peace.  The  former  case  showed 
how  easily  the  most  orthodox  might  fall  into  seeming  heresy,^ 
for  want  of  guardedness  and  precision  in  the  use  of 
terms.  But  Dionysius  had  the  grace  to  explain  his 
meaning.  His  contemporaries  had  the  still  rarer 
grace  to  accept  his  explanation.  Had  it  proved  otherwise, 
Arianism  might  have  risen  upon  the  Church  a half  century 
sooner  than  it  did,  and  Alexandria,  like  Antioch,  might  have 


Charity 

and 

Wisdom. 


9 Intent  upon  vindicating  the  personality  of  the  Son,  and  having  in  view 
His  human  nature  only,  he  said  : The  Son  of  God  was  made  and  produced. 
He  is  not  proper  in  his  nature,  but  differing  in  essence  from  the  Father,  as  the 
vine  from  the  vine-dresser  and  the  ship  from  the  shipwright ; for  seeing  that 
He  was  made.  He  was  not  before  He  was  produced.”  His  meaning  is 
defended  iri  S.  Athanas.  De  Senient.  S.  Dionys.  ; in  Bull,  Defens.  F.  N. ; 
in  Holy  East.  Church;  in  Burton’s  Testimonies  of  the  Ante- Nicene 

Fathers. 


291 


The  Egyptian  Church. 

numbered  an  arch-heretic  among  its  Bishops.  In  later  times, 
when  controversy  became  more  bitter  and  charity  more  rare, 
there  was  less  willingness  to  admit  the  soundness  of  Dionysius.*® 
But  his  defence  with  posterity  is  his  undoubted  humility  and 
moderation.  With  a certain  independence  of  mind  and  freedom 
of  expression,  characteristic  of  the  Alexandrine  School,  he  was 
aware  of  the  imperfections  of  human  thought  and  human  lan- 
guage. For  this  reason  he  was  wary  of  the  use  of  the 
term  consubstantial^^  Its  meaning  was  not  yet  settled  “ of  one 

, - , , . . Substance:^ 

in  the  Church,  and  a word  of  unsettled  meaning  is 
always  liable  to  abuse.  For  the  same  reason  he  was  ready  to 
examine  and  reexamine,  to  discuss,  to  explain,  to  retract  if 
necessary,  to  understand  those  who  were  opposed  to  him  in 
opinion,  and,  if  possible,  to  put  himself  in  a position  to  be 
understood  by  them."  In  this  respect,  the  disciples  of  Origen 
and  the  Alexandrine  School  seem  to  have  been  in  advance  of 
most  of  their  contemporaries. 

Dionysius  was  succeeded  by  Maximus,  and  Maximus  by 
Theonas ; from  whose  patriarchate,  that  is,  from  the  first  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  began  the 

Era  oif  the 

so-called  era  of  the  Martyrs  : the  Alexandrine  Church  Martyrs.^ 
having  adopted  that  epoch,  instead  of  the  Incarnation, 
as  the  beginning  of  its  years.  During  all  this  time,  the  Cate- 
chetical School  continued  in  a flourishing  condition  under 
Clement  II.;  under  Pierius,  who  by  his  many  able  writings  won 
the  title  of  the  second  Origen  ; and  under  Theognos-  Peter  the 
tus,  Serapion,  and  Peter.  On  the  death  of  Theonas, 

Peter,  the  last  of  these,  surnamed  the  Martyr,  succeeded  to  his 

S.  Basil,  e,  g.y  regarded  him  as  Fons  Arii. 

**  Which  he  seems  to  have  used,  however,  for  Athanasius  says  to  the 
Arians  (in  a passage  quoted  by  Burton  in  his  Testimonies,  etc.),  ‘‘  If  the  patrons 
of  this  heresy  think  that  Dionysius  agreed  with  them,  let  them  also  acknowl- 
edge the  term  consul statitial  which  he  used  in  his  Defence,  and  that  the  Son 
is  of  the  substance  of  the  Father,  and  also  His  eternity.” 

In  the  way  of  good  sense,  good  temper,  and  real  Christian  charity  and 
moderation,  I doubt  whether  the  early  Church  affords  a better  lesson  than  the 
conduct  of  Dionysius  as  described  in  Euseb.  vii.  24. 


292 


History  of  the  Church. 


Troubles. 


place.  He  had  the  honor  of  being  the  first  Bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria who  sealed  his  testimony  with  his  blood. 

The  internal  troubles  common  to  all  the  Churches  at  this 
period,  and  which  the  Egyptian  Church  under  a succession  of 
able  and  saintly  Bishops  had  rather  pruned  and  kept 
down  than  really  eradicated,  began  now  to  show  them- 
selves in  the  utmost  rankness  and  profusion. 

The  See  of  Lycopolis,  for  some  reason  now  unknown,  had 
an  influence  in  Egypt  second  only  to  that  of  Alexandria.  Mele- 
tius,  its  incumbent  at  the  end  of  the  third  century, 

Meletian  , ^ .1  1 1 -i 

Schism,  was  accused  of  apostasy,  and  in  a Council  holden  at 

A.D.  301.  * ^ 

Alexandria  was  convicted  and  deposed.  He  refused 
to  submit  to  the  sentence.  Availing  himself,  as  was  common 
with  schismatics,  of  the  strong  and  general  sympathy  for  austere 
views,  he  broke  off  into  a sect ; adopted  a narrow  platform  akin 
to  Novatianism ; and  proceeded  to  consecrate  new  Bishops  for 
all  the  principal  Sees.  The  schism  made  itself  acceptable  by 
some  peculiar  rites;  by  religious  dances;  by  promises  of  a 
Heaven  suited  to  gross  and  fanciful  conceptions.  Among  its 
favorers,  for  awhile,  was  that  restless  and  subtle  spirit,  the  cele- 
brated Arius.  Its  rapid  spread  may  be  accounted  for 
in  part  by  the  persuasive  talents  of  its  leaders.  It  would 
seem  to  indicate,  however,  that  in  Egypt  as  in  North  Africa, 
and  indeed  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  great  mass  of  believ- 
ers were  but  partially  instructed  and  that  the  seeds  of  heresy 
— crude  notions,  half-knowledge,  one-sided  views,  and  vague  and 
restless  emotionalism — must  in  the  nature  of  things  have  been 
widely  disseminated. 

All  this  might  have  led  to  more  extensive  revolts,  if  a vent 
Monach-  ^0^  the  errant  enthusiasm  so  common  in  those  times  had 
not  been  providentialy  afforded,  in  the  spontaneous 
chorets,etc.  growtli  of  mouastic  or  anchorite  establish- 

ments in  the  deserts  of  the  Thebais.  In  reference  to  this  move- 
rs Alexandria,  in  fact,  with  its  high-toned,  refined,  and  subtle  orthodoxy, 
and  with  its  essentially  Greek  spirit,  must  have  been  very  far  in  advance  of  the 
simple  (and  perhaps  sensuous)  faith  of  the  remoter  districts. 


Its  rapid 
spread. 


293 


The  Egyptian  Church. 


ment,  considering  that  it  arose  among  the  Laity  altogether,  the 
course  of  the  Church  was  eminently  tolerant.  The  Therapeu- 
t3e  of  the  first  century,  citizens  of  Heaven  upon  earth,'*  were 
probably  a communistic  Christian  sect.  Frontonius  and  seventy 
companions  led  the  life  of  recluses,  in  the  middle  of  the  second 
century.  But  when  the  calamitous  times  of  Decius  and  his 
successors  made  common  life  a burden  almost  too  great  for 
human  strength;  when  the  feeling  that  things  were  coming 
rapidly  to  an  end,*^  was  wellnigh  universal ; men  fled  from 
society  in  all  directions,  so  that  the  deserts  of  Egypt  and 
Mount  Sinai  became  populous  with  Anchorets.  It  was  pree 
a free  and  spontaneous  movement,  the  more  remark- 
able  that  it  sprang  up  at  a period  when  the  Church,  by  her 
frequent  services,  by  her  exact  discipline,  and  by  her  continuous 
struggle  with  ascetic  extravagances,  seemed  committed  against 
all  forms  of  eccentricity,  or  even,  it  may  be  said,  of  private 
judgment  in  religion. 

S.  Antony,  the  father  of  Christian  Monachism,  was  an  emi- 
nent example  of  the  spontaneousness  of  this  movement. 
Brought  up  in  the  seclusion  of  a pious  home,  and  so 
averse  to  the  society  of  youths  of  his  own  age  that  his 
parents  though  rich  never  sent  him  to  school,  he  was  left  an 
orphan  at  twenty,  without  a friend  or  companion  except  his 
sister,  and  almost  without  an  acquaintance  in  the  world.  One 
day,  in  church,  not  long  after  the  death  of  his  parents, 
he  heard  the  words  of  the  Lord,  If  thou  wilt  be  per- 
fect, go  sell  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor."  He  obeyed 


.S’.  Antony, 


His  Faith, 


^4  See  Book  I.  ch.  iv.  On  this  subject  generally,  see  Sozoinen,  Eccles, 
Hist.  i.  1 1- 1 4. 

*5  S.  Cyprian’s  Epistoh  ad  Demetrianum  contains  an  elaborate  argument 
to  that  effect. 

^^Sozomen,  Eccles.  Hist.  i.  13;  S.  Athanas.  Vita  S.  Anton,  This  work 
is  possibly  spurious,  or  more  or  less  interpolated.  It  is  none  the  less,  how- 
ever, a most  instructive  sketch  of  a peculiar  religious  experience,  well  worthy 
of  attention  on  the  part  of  thoughtful  Christian  men  of  every  age  of  the 
world.  For  an  appreciative  though  brief  account  of  S.  Antony,  see  Hase, 
Hist,  of  the  Christian  Churchy  \ 65. 


294 


History  of  the  Church. 

the  Divine  injunction  to  the  letter.  He  went  home,  sold  his 
goods,  and  distributed  the  proceeds  to  his  neighbors  and  to  the 
poor,  reserving  only  a small  portion  for  the  necessities  of  his 
sister.  Shortly  after,  when  again  in  church,  he  felt  himself  par- 
ticularly addressed  by  the  words,  ‘‘Take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow.^*  His  conscience  smote  him.  He  had  been  taking 
thought  ! As  soon  as  he  returned  home,  therefore,  he  dis- 
tributed his  sister^s  portion  along  with  the  rest  of  his  property; 
providing  for  her,  however,  in  a kind  of  religious  house. His 
Reality  of  subsequeut  course  was  in  accordance  with  this  begin- 
Character.  Having  heard,  that  if  a man  did  not  work, 

neither  should  he  eat,  he  made  manual  labor  a part  of  his 
exercises.  In  the  same  spirit,  he  endeavored  to  comply  literally 
with  the  precept,  “ Pray  without  ceasing.*'  Whatever  his  mind 
took  up  from  the  letter  of  Scripture  was  carried  straightway 
into  practice,  and  so  became  indelibly  stamped  upon  it.  A 
more  complete  reaction  from  the  ultra-spiritual  and  ultra- 
intellectual tendencies  of  the  doctors  of  the  Alexandrine  School 
cannot  easily  be  imagined. 

It  was  a life,  in  fact,  almost  as  much  apart  from  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church  as  from  the  ordinary  ways  of  the  world  : 
A Life  ^ strictly  and  entirely  between  the  soul  and  God. 
%Vinthe  Of  the  experiences  of  such  a religion  no  one  can  be  a 
^ndfhe  but  he  who  has  been  in  some  way  a subject 

Church.  Qf-  t]^em.  It  is  enough  to  notice,  therefore,  without 
philosophizing  upon  a state  in  which  outward  and  inward  im- 
pressions seem  to  have  been  completely  blended,  that  for  some 
fifteen  years  in  his  cell,  and  for  twenty  years  in  the  closer  seclu- 

*7  One  of  the  latest  examples  of  this  intense  individualism  in  religion  is 
afforded  in  that  curious  and  edifying  book,  “ The  Lord’s  Dealings  with 
George  Muller : ” — a most  remarkable  man  and  singularly  endowed  with  the 
“ gift”  of  faith,  if,  as  there  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt,  his  account  of  himself 
be  true. 

His  sister  appears  to  have  been  like-minded  with  himself.  When  the 
two  met  again  at  a later  period,  she  was  at  the  head  of  a flourishing  sister- 
hood. 


The  Egyptian  Church. 


295 


His  power 
as  a 
Precuher, 


sion  of  his  castle/^  Antony  battled  with  fleshly,  worldly,  and 
demoniacal  temptations;^®  tamed  his  strong  passions  Antony's 
and  strong  fancy  into  obedience  to  a still  stronger 
will ; and  acquired  a fame  which  obliged  him  at  last  to  receive 
disciples,  and  to  show  his  face  again  to  his  innumerable  eager 
admirers.  When  he  issued  from  his  retreat,  it  was  observed 
with  astonishment  that  he  was  as  hale  and  youthful  in  appear- 
ance— neither  fat  nor  lean,  but  with  a light  in  his  eye  and  a 
ruddy  glow  on  his  cheek — as  when  he  originally  entered. 

What  was  more  remarkable,  he  was  singularly  polished,  quiet 
and  self-possessed  in  his  manners.  The  grace  of  eloquence  was 
on  his  lips.  To  those  who  gathered  around  him  he 
spake  affectionately  in  the  Egyptian  tongue  ‘‘Let- 
ters, my  children,  are  good  for  our  instruction ; but 
it  is  an  excellent  thing  to  exhort  and  teach  one  another.  Do 
you,  then,  as  children,  tell  your  father  what  things  you  have 
learned ; and  I in  turn,  as  your  elder,  will  give  you  the  fruits 
of  my  experience.’*  To  his  persuasive  preaching, 

• 1 1 • 111  rr^i  IVorks. 

miracles,  it  is  said,  were  sometimes  added.  “The 

Lord  healed  many,  in  answer  to  his  prayers ; and  many  were 

delivered  from  unclean  spirits. He  consoled  the  afflicted,  he 

*9  His  first  place  of  refuge  was  among  the  tonabs,  his  second  in  a ruined 
castle,  a haunt  of  serpents  and  wild  beasts. 

*0  The  tempter  brought  before  him  images  of  the  wealth  and  worldly 
pleasures  he  had  given  up ; assumed  the  shape  of  a beautiful  woman ; and 
when  all  this  failed,  filled  his  cell  with  demons  who  assumed  beastly  forms, 
and  left  him  almost  dead  from  physical  exhaustion.  On  one  occasion,  in  the 
desert,  the  fiend  threw  a discus  at  him ; which  when  the  saint  contemplated 
in  surprise  to  see  such  a missile  in  such  a place,  it  slowly  melted  into  air  and 
disappeared.  Vit.  Anton. 

There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  in  most  of  the  provinces  of  the  Empire 
ordinary  teaching  was  still  confined  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages.  In 
North  Africa,  for  example,  it  was  a matter  of  rejoicing,  even  as  late  as  the 
times  of  S.  Augustine,  that  one  Presbyter  could  be  found  who  could  speak  in 
the  Punic  tongue.  On  this,  see  Miinter.  Pi'imord.  Eccl.  Afric.  cap.  v.  In 
the  East,  however,  the  Liturgies  were  translated  into  various  tongues. 

22  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  miracles  of  S.  Antony,  his  modesty  and 
humility  in  connection  with  them  are  worthy  of  admiration.  Thus  Marcianus, 


296 


History  of  the  Church. 

reconciled  enemies,  he  composed  differences,  by  simply  urging 
upon  men  that  ‘‘nothing  in  this  world  is  to  be  preferred  to  the 
love  of  Christ/* 

With  such  a leader,  the  cell  or  the  laura  soon  became  more 
congenial  to  many  minds  than  the  social  joys  of  the  Church. 
The  Among  the  savage  crags  and  the  awful  desolation  of 
Laura.  mountainous  region  between  the  Red  Sea  and  the 

Nile  a refuge  was  provided  for  those  redundant  souls  who,  with 
a strong  desire  to  do,  but  an  irresistible  propensity  to  overdo, 
are  apt  to  be  jostled  from  the  walks  of  common  life,  and  are 
condemned  either  to  inaction  or  to  eccentric  courses  of  their 
own.  The  Christian  Church  did  not  originate  this  movement : 
it  belongs,  in  fact,  to  natural  religion.  She  saw  in  it,  how- 
ever, some  elements  of  good : and  when,  in  the  Dioclesian 
Antony  in  pcrsecution,  the  strong  man  of  the  desert  came  down 
Alexandria.  Alexandria  to  see  how  it  fared  wdth  his  brethren — 
“ prepared,**  as  he  expressed  it,  “either  to  combat  himself  or 
to  behold  the  combatants;**  or  when,  soberly  and  prudently, 
with  the  gentleness  of  a woman, he  ministered  to  the  wants  of 
the  Confessors  in  prison — the  very^eathen  respecting 
Con%s£r-  the  sanctity  of  his  character  : then  she  began  to  glory 
ship.  Anchorets  almost  as  much  as  in  her  noble  army 

of  Martyrs.  The  system,  in  fact,  was  but  another  form  of  con- 

a military  prefect,  came  to  his  door,  and  was  very  importunate  in  his  request 
that  he  would  cast  out  a devil  which  possessed  his  daughter.  The  saint  at 
length  showed  himself  and  said  : “ Why  criest  thou  to  me  ? I also  am  but  a 
man.  If  thou  believest  in  Christ  whom  I serve,  then  pray  to  God,  and  it 
shall  be  done.’^  Then  the  man  believed,  and  called  upon  Christ,  and  his 
daughter  was  healed.  Vit.  Anton. 

23  There  was  a peculiar  amiability  about  him.  In  the  desert,  he  not  only 
raised  food  for  himself,  but  cultivated  little  patches  of  ground  for  the  benefit 
of  chance  travellers.  The  wild  beasts  at  first  gave  him  trouble,  by  trampling 
on  his  corn.  But  one  day  he  laid  his  hand  gently  on  one  of  them,  and  said 
to  the  rest : “ Why  trouble  a man  who  does  you  no  harm  ? Depart,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.”  Afterwards  they  gave  him  no  further  trouble.  I can- 
not but  think  that  it  was  this  sweetness  of  temper,  united  to  a dauntless  cour- 
age and  immovable  self-possession,  that  secured  him  immunity  in  Alexandria 
when  less  eminent  believers  were  in  constant  peril. 


The  Egyptian  Church.  297 

fessorship.  As  one  field  closed  by  the  cessation  of  persecution,  a 
new  field  opened  to  that  spirit  of  earnest  emulation  and  eccen- 
tric heroism, which  might  be  employed  for  good  or  might  be 
perverted  to  evil ; but  which,  for  good  or  evil,  was  one  of  the 
strong  elements  of  the  practical  religion  of  the- times. 

The  Dioclesian  persecution  raged  terribly  in  Alexandria, 
and  in  all  parts  of  Egypt.  The  martyrs  were  more  numerous 
and  more  eminent  than  at  any  period  before.  It  rests  The  great 
on  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses,  that  the  sufferers 
were  not  only  scourged  and  put  to  death ; but,  in  cases  with- 
out number,  were  stretched  on  the  rack,  suspended  by  the 
hands,  torn  with  pincers,  seared  with  molten  lead,  roasted  over 
a slow  fire,  suffocated  with  smoke,  deprived  of  their  eyes  or 
other  members,  and,  in  short,  treated  with  every  inhumanity 
that  the  most  fiendish  cruelty  could  suggest. Peter,  the  Bishop 
of  Alexandria,  was  among  the  last  that  suffered.  When  he  was 
thrown  into  prison,  his  people  collected  in  such  numbers  about 
his  place  of  confinement  that  the  soldiers  who  had  been  sent 
to  put  him  to  death  were  unable  to  enter  by  the  door : but 
taking  advantage  of  a dark  and  stormy  night,  they 
made  a^hole  through  one  of  the  walls  of  his  cell.  The  0/ Peter ^ 

martyr  understood  their  intention  and  aided  them  in  ’ 
it.  Making  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  saying,  ‘‘Better  that  we 
should  die  than  expose  the  people  to  danger,/'  he  stretched 
forth  his  head  to  the  executioner,  and  it  was  stricken  off.  He  is 
named  by  the  Greeks  “ the  Seal  and  end  of  the  Martyrs." 

It  is  said  that  before  his  death,  in  consequence  of  a vision 
he  had  seen,  he  solemnly  warned  the  Church  against  Arius,  who 

^ The  spirit  of  emulation — the  desire  to  do  something  that  no  one  had 
done  before — breathes  through  the  annals  of  the  Eremites.  Thus  the  Vita  S. 
Antonii  begins  : “ A glorious  contest  have  ye  undertaken,  in  endeavoring  to 
equal  or  even  to  surpass  the  life  of  the  Egyptian  monks.”  In  the  same  way, 
S.  Antony  learned,  late  in  life,  that  there  was  one  man  on  earth  his  superior 
in  asceticism  : namely,  Paul,  who  had  lived  ninety  years  out  of  sight  or  hear- 
ing of  man,  with  only  a palm-tree  for  shelter  and  meat  and  clothing.  S. 
Antony  visited  him  in  time  to  be  a witness  of  his  death. 

*5  Euseb.  Eccl.  Hist.  viii. 

T3^ 


298  History  of  the  Church. 

lay  at  that  time  under  sentence  of  excommunication.  His  suc- 
, . , cessor  Achillas,  however,  paid  no  attention  to  the  warn- 

A rius  and  . * 

Alexander^  ing.  Arius  was  not  only  absolved  and  admitted  to  the 
Priesthood,  but,  being  set  over  the  Church  of  Baucalis 
— one  of  the  oldest  and  wealthiest  in  the  city — he  became,  on 
the  death  of  Achillas,  a prominent  candidate  for  the  vacant 
, episcopal  chair.  But  in  this  he  failed.  Alexander 

A new  IT  JT 

Storm  was  elected  by  unanimous  consent.  This  disappoint- 

g^atkeringt  ^ 

ment,  it  was  believed,  cast  a decided  gloom  upon  the 
soul  of  Arius ; and  is  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  that  great 
cloud,  fraught  with  ages  of  mischief  and  dissension,  which,  at 
the  close  of  this  period  of  history  and  at  the  opening  of  the 
next,  we  find  overshadowing  the  most  flourishing  portions  of 
the  Church. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CHURCHES  IN  GENERAL. 

In  that  wonderful  Epic  which  was  for  so  many  ages  the  Bible 
of  the  old  classic  world,  and  which  next  to  the  true  Bible  has 
The  great  entered  most  into  the  mind  of  the  European  nations 
since,  the  Hero  of  the  poem  appears  only  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Action  and  at  ks  close  : his  absence  the  mean- 
while giving  occasion  for  the  development  of  the  ‘‘excellence** 
first  of  one  warrior,*  then  of  another,  and  so  on  through  all  the 
changeful  issues  of  the  fight,  till  the  “gift,**  not  of  each  leader 
only,*  but  of  each  nation,  tribe,  or  other  division  of  the  host 
has  been  duly  exercised  and  brought  out  to  view. 

* The  apicreia  of  Diomede,  of  Agamemnon,  etc.  Iliados^  v.  xi.,  etc. 

* The  fact  that  “ every  good  gift”  cometh  down  from  above  is  recognized 
by  Homer  in  the  persons  of  the  most  frivolous  of  his  heroes  and  of  the  wisest 
and  most  earnest.  Paris  reminds  Hector  of  it  (//.  iii.  66) ; Ulysses  com- 
mends it  to  the  rude  minds  of  the  Phseacian  youths  {^Odyss,  viii.  167);  it 


The  Churches  in  General. 


299 


This  is  a summary  of  what  may  be  called  the  Divine  plan  of 
History  in  general ; more  especially  of  the  History  of  the 
Church  of  God.  The  Word  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega  ^ 
of  it,  the  author  and  finisher,  the  beginning  and  the 
end.  It  is  only,  therefore,  at  the  opening  and  the 
close  that  this  Divine  Word  is  made  fully  apparent.  In  the 
long  interval  between,  man  is  the  visible,  and  to  the  mere  eye 
of  flesh  the  principal,  worker ; the  all-sustaining  Arm  being 
manifested  occasionally,  however,  and  to  a greater  or  less  de- 
gree, at  those  eventful  epochs properly  so  called,  which  bring 
certain  periods  to  a close,  and  so  typify  or  prefigure  the  full 
appearing  of  God’s  Kingdom  at  the  end  of  time. 

The  story  of  the  First  Three  Centuries  is  but  a minute  por- 
tion of  that  wondrous  plan  ; the  mere  infancy  of  a manhood, 
the  real  growth  of  which  even  yet  (it  may  be)  has  Lesson  0/ 
hardly  more  than  begun.  But  being  beyond  doubt  a fhree 
living  portion,  and  in  some  respects  singularly  com- 
plete  in  itself,  it  exhibits  more  clearly  than  any  other  period  the 
essential  features  of  the  whole,  and  may  be  rightly  taken,  there- 
fore, as  the  best  representative  of  it.  Its  first  age,  rhePente- 
accordingly,  is  eminently  that  of  the  Divine  Arm  laid 
bare  to  view.  In  His  incarnate  Presence,  or  in  mighty  demon- 
strations of  spiritual  power,  the  Hero  of  the  epos  Himself  ap- 
pears. Then  follows  a long  and  weary  season  of  seeming 
absence.  The  great  Sower  has  sown  the  seed,  and  gone  His 
way  to  His  rest  p the  seed  being  left,  as  it  were,  to  the  natural 
fertility  of  the  soil.  Men,  therefore,  become  the  prom-  The  Age  of 
inent  actors.  First  singly,  then  in  groups  or  schools, 
then  in  local,  provincial,  or  national  Churches,  they  appear 


flows  more  sweetly  and  religiously  from  that  most  faultless  of  the  creatures  of 
humah  genius,  the  daughter  of  Alcinous  (^Odyss,  vi.  189).  Herodotus  also  is 
a faithful  witness  to  this  truth. 

3 Epoch, — a holding  up,  a pause,  a stop.  It  is  remarkable,  that  in  the 
great  field  of  physical  history  which  has  been  opened  by  modern  science, 
epochs  are  as  manifest  as  in  the  lives  of  races  or  of  nations.  See  Hugh  Mil- 
ler’s Testimony  of  the  Rocks, 

^ S.  Mark,  iv.  27. 


300 


History  of  the  Church. 

successively  before  us ; and  in  defeat^  rather  than  in  victory, 
The  Age  of  does  his  utmost  to  sustain  the  cause.  Finally, 

Churches,  patience  has  had  her  perfect  work ; when  the 

aristeia  of  each  lower  agent  has  been  displayed  ; when  the 
weakness  and  incompetency  of  the  arm  of  flesh  has  been  made 
sufficiently  apparent : then,  a marked  Providential  deliverance 
closes  the  first  act  of  the  drama ; the  Roman  world  submits  to 
the  standard  of  the  Cross  ; and  the  first  earnest  is  afforded  of 
that  crowning  victory,  the  day  and  hour  of  which  neither  man 
nor  angel  can  determine. 

But  the  Roman  world,  which  was  the  first  battle-field  and 
the  scene  of  the  first  great  victory  of  the  Gospel,  was  merely  a 
The  Roman  uarrow  belt  of  highly  civilized  and  intellectual  nations 
World.  around  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ; and  in  the 
account  already  given  of  Carthage,  Rome,  Alexandria,  and  An- 
tioch, with  incidental  mention  of  other  Churches,  the  story  of 
the  first  three  centuries  is  wellnigh  told.  So  far  as  the  working 
out  of  any  great  principle  is  concerned — whether  of  doctrine, 
discipline,  or  worship — little  remains  to  be  added.  A brief 
notice  of  the  other  Churches,  however,  following  the  order  in 
which  they  present  themselves  on  the  map  of  the  world,  may 
help  the  reader  to  form  a more  distinct  conception  of  the  state 
of  Christianity  at  this  critical  period  of  its  history,  and  to  ap- 
preciate more  fully  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  progress  that 
had  been  so  far  made. 

In  the  provinces  of  North  Africa  already  spoken  of  in  this 
Book,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  west  to  Cyrene 
on  the  east,  and  bounded  on  the  south  by  Mount 

The  Belt  of  ’ ^ 

the  Medi‘  Atlas  and  the  Libyan  desert,  there  were  by  the^  end 

terranean.  , , . . t ^ • 

of  the  third  century  at  least  one  hundred  episcopal 
sees,  and  possibly  a much  larger  number.^  The  Southern  bor- 

5 2 Cor.  vi.  9,  lo. 

^ In  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  the  Donatists  could  bring  together 
a Council  of  270  Bishops.  In  S.  Augustine’s  time  there  were  466  Bishop- 
rics. The  multiplication  of  dioceses  was  greater  in  Africa  than  elsewhere, 
the  Donatists  having  started  it,  and  the  Catholics  following  their  example  in 


The  Churches  in  General. 


301 


Egypt, 


ders  of  this^narrow  strip  were  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  barbar- 
ous tribes,  among  which  the  Gospel  had  made  little  North 
or  no  progress.  It  may  be  doubted,  indeed,  whether 
in  the  provinces  themselves  it  had  extended  much  further  than 
it  could  be  carried  through  the  medium  of  the  Latin  tongue. 
Next  in  order  towards  the  East,  along  the  same  belt, 
come  Libya,  Pentapolis,  and  Egypt,  covering  an  area 
about  three  times  as  large  as  England,  dependent  more  or  less 
on  the  See  of  Alexandria,  and  governed  by  about  one  hundred 
Bishops.  In  Nubia  and  Abyssinia  there  were  probably  Nubia, 
some  imprisoned  rays  of  Pentecostal  light,  but  of  the 
state  of  Christianity  in  those  countries  we  have  no  certain 
knowledge.  Arabia,  exclusive  of  Arabia  Petraea,  num- 
bered twenty-one  dioceses,  composed  for  the  most  part 
of  clusters  of  village  Churches,  of  which  the  chief  See  was 
Bostra,  sometimes  known  under  the  name  of  Philadelphia.  The 
missionary  journey  that  Pantaenus  is  said  to  have  made 
to  India,  in  which  he  discovered  some  traces  of  the 
labors  of  S.  Bartholomew  and  S.  Thomas,  is  supposed  by  many 
to  have  been  merely  to  some  part  of  Arabia.  On  this  point, 
however,  there  is  room  for  little  more  than  a baseless  conject- 
ure. Passing  towards  the  North,  along  the  Asiatic 
section  of  the  same  belt  of  the  Mediterranean,  we 
come  next  to  Palestine,  including  Arabia  Petrasa,  in  which  we 
find  some  forty-eight  dioceses,  dependent  more  or  less  on  Jeru- 
salem or  Caesarea. 

The  former  of  these  Churches,  which  we  left  under  the  new 
name  of  .^lia  at  the  beginning  of  its  Gentile  succession  in 
Hadrian’s  time,  continued  to  cherish  with  some  pride  Jerusalem, 
the  name,  and  it  is  said  the  chair,  of  S.  James ; and  chair  o/ 
was  regarded  with  no  little  reverence  as  the  oldest  of 
the  Mother  Churches.  In  the  history  of  her  Bishops  there 


A rabia. 


India, 


Palestine, 


self-defence.  In  the  rest  of  this  chapter,  my  object  is  merely  to  give  a gen- 
eral view ; and,  the  data  being  imperfect,  I have  to  rely  for  the  most  part  on 
conjecture.  See  Bingham’s  Antiquities,  Book  IX.;  and  Maurice’s  Vindication 
of  the  Primitive  Church,  etc.  London,  1682. 


302 


History  of  the  Church. 


seems  to  be  more  of  the  conventional  type  of  saiiitliness,  and 
perhaps  somewhat  more  of  the  marvellous,  than  appears  else- 
Narcissusy  where.  Narcissus,  the  thirtieth  in  order  from  S.  James, 
A.D.  195.  ^ miracles  attributed  to  him.  On  one 

occasion,  at  a vigil  just  before  the  Easter  Feast,  the  lights  were 
going  out  in  the  Church,  but  were  restored — miraculously,  it  was 
thought — by  the  Bishop's  ordering  water  to  be  brought  and 
poured  into  the  lamps.  This  holy  man  was  a rigid  enforcer  of 
ffis  discipline.  Offended  at  his  strictness,  three  wretches 
Accusers,  found  to  trump  up  an  accusation  against  him, 

which  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  confirm  by  an  oath.  One  of 
them  prayed  that  he  might  perish  by  fire,  another  that  his  body 
might  be  eaten  by  a plague,  a third  that  he  might  lose  his  sight, 
if  their  witness  against  the  Bishop  should  be  found  untrue. 
Narcissus  shrank  from  the  blight  of  a calumny  thus  fearfully 
attested,  and  secretly  retired  to  a hermit  life.  But  the  inno- 
cence of  his  character  was  fully  vindicated.  The  accusers  per- 
ished according  to  the  tenor  of  their  oaths;  and  at  length, 
after  three  successors  in  the  episcopate  had  in  the  meantime 
done  their  work  and  departed  to  their  rest.  Narcissus  appeared 
again  as  one  risen  from  the  dead,  and  at  the  request  of  the  holy 
Alexander^  brethren  resumed  the  chair  he  had  abandoned.  Alex- 
A.D.  2x2.  ander,  a disciple  of  Origen,  and  Bishop  at  that  time  of 
a Church  in  Cappadocia,  happening  to  come  to  Jerusalem  in 
fulfilment  of  a vow,  was  seized  upon  by  the  faithful  of  the  Holy 
City  and  installed  as  coadjutor  to  their  aged  chief ; the  irregu- 
larity being  covered,  it  was  thought,  by  a Divine  communication 
through  a dream  or  vision.^ 

This  latter  prelate  proved  to  be  a patron  of  learning  and  of 
learned  men ; and  added  a handsome  Library  to  the  attractions 

of  the  Church  in  ^lia.  It  was  he  who,  in  conjunction 

A Patron  . • 

0/ Learn-  with  Theoctistus  of  Csesarea,  upheld  the  cause  of  Origen 

ifi^% 

against  his  Bishop  Demetrius,  and  gave  currency  to  the 
learning  and  perhaps  to  some  of  the  vagaries  of  that  gifted 
teacher.  He  died  a martyr,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  Decian 
^ Euseb.  vi.  9-1 1. 


The  Churches  in  General. 


303 

persecution.  Hymenseus,  the  second  after  him  in  order  of  suc- 
cession, took  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings  against 
Paul  of  Samosata,  and  lived  long  enough  to  be  person- 
ally known  to  Eusebius,  the  Church  historian. 

The  Churches  in  Palestine  were  distinguished  by  many  noble 
wrestlers’’  in  the  tenth  persecution,  whose  merits  have  been 
more  particularly  recorded  than  is  common  with  the  Martyrs  of 
martyrs  of  the  early  Church.®  It  is  a hideous  story  of  raiestme. 
imprisonments,  tortures,  and  monstrous  inhumanities,  relieved 
only  by  the  vivid  faith  and  indomitable  spirit  of  the  sufferers. 
Wonderful  was  the  steadfastness  of  those  whose  privilege  it  was 
to  die  for  the  Faith  : more  wonderful  still  the  patient  Lively 
and  meek  endurance  of  the  much  larger  number,  who  infSiltY/ 
were  condemned  to  the  mines,  or  to  a crippled  life,  ^Uievers, 
dependent  on  the  charity  of  others  in  little  better  plight  than 
themselves.  But  the  greatest  marvel  of  all  was  the  buoyancy 
of  hope  that  sustained  the  large  and  timid  crowd  who  were  too 
insignificant,  or  perhaps  too  cautious,  to  share  in  the  sufferings 
and  the  glory  of  the  brave  Confessors.  The  Churches  were 
closed.  Public  services  were  suspended.  The  cemeteries  and 
all  other  kinds  of  Church  property  had  been  confiscated.  The 
Clergy  were  in  prison,  or  in  the  mines,  or  in  obscure  hiding- 
places.  Heathen  worship  was  revived  with  the  utmost  splendor ; 
and  wherever  one  might  look,  the  Church,  as  an  organized  body, 
seemed  to  be  almost  extinct.  Yet  when  a lull  of  a few  days 
occurred  in  the  times  of  Maximin,  and  a deceitful  peace  tempted 
the  Christians  once  more  to  show  themselves,  the  effect,  we  are 
told,  was  like  a flash  of  lightning. ^ All  places  of  worship  were 
suddenly  crowded ; the  cemeteries  were  thronged ; hymns  and 
songs  of  joy  and  mutual  congratulations  everywhere  ^ 

resounded.  It  was  like  a tree  breaking  out  into  blossom  the 

. . , - . » /-  Heathen. 

in  the  midst  of  a winter  s frost.  So  striking  was  the 
spectacle  of  single-hearted  gladness  thus  suddenly  exhibited, 
that  many  of  the  heathen  beholding  it,  were  led  by  a sympa- 
thetic feeling  to  attach  themselves  to  the  Church. 

®Euseb.  Martyrs  of  Palestine.  9 Euseb.  ix.  i. 


304 


History  of  the  Church. 


CcBsarea, 


Tyre, 


Syria, 


Caesarea,  not  inferior  to  Jerusalem  in  influence  or  actual 
power,  is  known  at  this  period  chiefly  for  the  countenance  given 
to  Origen  by  its  Bishop  Theoctistus,  and  for  the  part 
taken  by  Theotecnus  in  the  case  of  the  heretic  Paul. 
It  was  also  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  fearful  of  the  atrocities 
of  the  great  persecution.  Further  on  towards  the  north  comes 
Tyre,  memorable  for  a noble  church  edifice,  destroyed 
and  splendidly  restored  during  the  same  trying  times. 
There  Origen  laid  down  his  weary  life ; there  also,  under  the 
leading  of  Methodius,  began  an  endless  series  of  assaults  upon 
the  memory  of  the  Alexandrine  teacher. 

The  Syrian  Church,  which  has  repeatedly  been  before  us 
in  connection  with  Antioch,  extended  from  the  Isle  of  Cyprus 
on  the  west  to  Mesopotamia  on  the  east;  and  in  its 
different  provinces  eighty  Bishops,  more  or  less,  might 
have  been  counted  at  this  period. 

In  the  vast  Eastern  world  that  lay  beyond  the  borders  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  the  signs  of  an  early  knowledge  of  the  Gospel 
are  but  few  and  faint.  Edessa  had  been  from  Apostolic 
times  a centre  of  light  to  Mesopotamia.  Armenia  was 
converted  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  by  Gregory, 
the  Illuminator.  Persia  likewise  received  some  rays  of  the 
Truth.  There,  however,  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  was  not 
only  stayed  for  awhile,  but  was  violently  rolled  back  in  the 
organized  system  and  proselyting  zeal  of  the  great  heresy  of  the 
Manichaeans. 

Next  to  Palestine,  Asia  Minor  had  been  the  elect  field  of  the 
early  growth  of  Religion,  most  of  the  writings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment being  addressed  to  believers  in  that  region ; and 
it  was  in  one  of  its  provinces,  Asia  Proconsularis  or 
Asia  Proper,  that  Catholic  Christianity  first  assumed  its  type  form 
the  mystical  seven  Churches  of  the  Revelation  of 
Proper,  g ^as  also  the  cradle  of  the  most  formidable 

heresies  of  the  early  Church.^®  Among  the  fanatical  population 


The 

further 

East, 


Asia 

Minor, 


*o  Newman’s  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century. 


The  Churches  in.  General. 


305 


Phrygia. 


of  Phrygia,  Montan  us  was  born,  and  after  him  Novatianus,  the 
great  Schismatic.  In  other  parts,  Judaic  and  Gnostic 
elements  had  been  blended  into  their  most  seductive 
and  most  pernicious  forms ; and  the  contest  with  these  various 
errors  had  been  further  complicated  by  the  unhappy  strife  about 
the  Pascha,  and  by  the  rationalistic  views  of  such  men  as  Praxeas 
and  Noetus.  From  these  fiery  trials  the  Churches  of  savedso 
Asia  Minor  came  out  safe  in  the  main,  but  not  without 
suffering  loss  in  more  ways  than  one.  In  fact,  while  the  Churches 
in  this  region  continued  to  be  among  the  most  populous  and 
flourishing  in  Christendom,  yet  their  long  and  weary  struggle 
seems  in  some  measure  to  have  benumbed  their  strength  ; so  that, 
after  the  first  glorious  era  of  S.  John  and  his  immediate  disciples, 
their  history  is  comparatively  obscure  and  uninteresting. 

The  whole  extent  of  country  was  about  six  hundred  miles 
in  length  by  three  hundred  in  breadth,  embracing,  according  to 
the  earliest  notices,  some  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  dioceses,  the  greater  part  of  which,  probably, 
were  established  during  the  first  three  centuries.  Of 
its  various  provinces  the  majority  are  alluded  to  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  profited  by  the  labors  of  the  chief  Apostles. 
Bithynia  seems  to  merit  particular  notice  as  being  the 
scene  of  the  persecution  mentioned  in  Pliny’s  famous 
letter  to  Trajan,  and  as  being  the  starting-point  of  the  last  great 
war  against  Christianity:  Nicomedia,  its  chief  city,  a 
place  on  the  Propontis  about  fifty  mjles  east  of  the 
present  site  of  Constantinople,  having  been  chosen  by  Diocletian 
as  the  imperial  abode. 

During  the  Decian  times,  Pontus  and  other  parts  of  Asia 
Minor  were  thrown  into  a state  of  confusion  hardly  short  of 
anarchy,  by  the  terrible  inroads  of  the  Goths.  Among  Gothic 
the  Christians,  many  were  forced  by  these  barbarians 
to  deny  the  Faith.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Gospel  asserted  its 
power;  and  the  beginnings  were  seen  of  that  wonderful  order- 
ing of  Providence,  by  which  nations  to  whom  the  light  had  not 
been  carried  were  brought  by  a secret  guidance  within  the  sphere 


Extent 
0/  the 
Country. 


Bithynia. 


Nicomedia. 


3o6 


History  of  the  Church. 


of  the  light,”  and  the  way  was  opened  for  a civilization  which 
(perhaps)  the  effete  Roman  world  was  no  longer  capable  of 
receiving. 

Passing  from  Asia  Minor  into  the  European  provinces,  there 
is  little  of  any  special  interest  in  the  annals  of  the  Churches  of 
Macedonia,.,  Macedonia  and  Achaia;  and  still  less  in  what  was 
Achata,  becoming  slowly  a part  of  Christendom,  the  region 
that  extends  from  Constantinople  to  Sardica,  and  from  the 
^gean  Sea  to  the  Danube.  Corinth,  which  kept  its  place  at 
the  head  of  the  Churches  of  Achaia,  was  adorned  in  the  second 
^ . century  by  the  pastoral  labors  of  Dionysius,  one  of  the 
o/  Corinth^  wisest  of  Church  teachers,  whose  writings  are  admi- 
rably but  too  briefly  summed  up  in  the  History  of 
Eusebius.”  He  opposed  the  early  inroads  of  the  encratite 
spirit.  Writing  to  Pinytus,  the  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  the 
Gnossians,  he  exhorted  him  not  to  impose  upon  the  brethren  a 
burden  in  regard  to  purity  too  great  for  their  strength. 

He  opposes  . , . - , . - . ^ 

the  Encra-  but  to  have  consideration  for  human  infirmity.  To 
tite  School.  -i.-i-r.-  1*11 

which  Pinytus  answered,  with  the  usual  self-compla- 
cency of  his  austere  school,  that  men  should  be  fed  with  strong 
meat,  milk  being  fit  only  for  babes.  The  substitution  of  cant 
for  sober  and  good  sense  is  an  expedient  not  peculiar  to  modern 
times.  It  has  been  in  all  ages  the  bane  of  true  religion.  An- 
other evil  is  alluded  to  by  Dionysius  in  the  curious  fact  that 
even  before  his  death  his  own  writings  had  become  interpolated 
and  corrupted.  Those  who  had  a craving  for  ‘‘strong  meat^* 
mixed  the  “milk ''  of  older  and  wiser  teachers  with  stimulating 
elements  of  their  own,  to  render  it  more  palatable.  Several 
other  matters  of  interest  were  discussed  by  the  same  Dionysius. 

In  the  regions  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  with  Crete 
and  some  other  islands,  there  may  have  been  as  many 
as  fifty  dioceses  at  the  end  of  the  third  century. 

We  pass  on  to  Italy,  containing  “anciently  some  of  the 
smallest  and  some  of  the  largest  dioceses  in  the  world,  and  yet 

” Sozomen,  ii.  6. 

*2  Euseb.  iv.  23.  See  also  Routh,  Reliqu.  Sacr.  vol.  i. 


Dioceses. 


The  Churches  in  General. 


307 


Italy, 


Spain. 


the  same  species  of  episcopacy  preserved  in  them  all ; the  Bishop 
of  Eugubium,  as  S.  Jerome  words  it,  being  ejusdem 
meriti  and  ejusdem  sacerdotii^ — of  the  same  merit  and 
priesthood  with  the  Bishop  of  Rome.’^*^  In  one  of  the  earliest 
Roman  Synods  on  the  Paschal  controversy,  there  were  but  four- 
teen Bishops  present, — few  of  the  Councils  at  that  period  being 
able  to  muster  more.  Within  a century  after,  Italy  could  num- 
ber more  than  one  hundred  Sees.  Dioceses  were  numerous  also 
in  Sicily  and  other  islands  of  the  Western  Mediterranean. 

The  Church  of  Spain  gloried  in  S.  James  the  Greater,  as  its 
Apostolic  founder  a story  full  of  difficulties,  which  the  testi- 
mony of  zealous  but  modern  Spanish  writers  cannot 
remove.  However  this  may  be,  we  find  it  a flourishing 
part  of  Christendom  in  the  times  of  S.  Cyprian.  At  the  end 
of  the  third  century  it  stands  out,  in  its  austere  Council  of 
Elvira,  as  infected  more  or  less  with  the  taint  of  Novatianism. 

The  Greco-Gallic  foundation  in  Lyons  and  Vienne  suffered 
terribly  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  persecutions.  The  Church  sur- 
vived these  storms,  however ; and  about  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  its  growth  received  a new  impulse 
from  the  mission  of  seven  Bishops  (according  to  Gregory  of 
Tours),*5  who  established  themselves  respectively  in  Paris,  Arles, 

*3  Bingham,  ix.  v.  16.  The  Bishops  of  Italy  and  the  isles  adjacent  are  all 
enumerated  in  Italia  Sacra^  etc.,  auct,  D.  Ferdinand.  Ughello  Florentin. 
Venetiis,  1717. 

Ferreras  argues  stoutly  for  it:  “The  preaching  of  that  blessed 
Apostle  in  Spain  was  confirmed  by  the  decision  of  the  Roman  Church  . . . 
but  though  it  was  even  mentioned  in  the  Breviary  by  the  order  of  the  blessed 
Pope  Pius  V.,  Cardinal  Baronius  denied  it  in  the  loth  vol.  of  his  Annals. 
ITis  captious  reasoning  caused  Clement  VIII.  to  have  it  taken  out  of  the  Bre- 
viary. Nevertheless,  when  a great  number  of  writers  has  demonstrated  the 
fallacy  of  Baronius,  and  when  the  Spanish  nation  and  its  Catholic  kings  had 
made  a solemn  protest  against  that  reform,  the  matter  was  reopened ; and  after 
the  mature  and  searching  examination  usually  given  in  such  cases  by  the 
Holy  See,  the  judgment  was  reversed,  and  by  order  of  Urban  VIII.  the 
preaching  of  the  holy  Apostle  in  Spain  was  reinserted  among  the  lessons  of 
the  Breviary.”  Hist.  Gen.  a' Espagne  : Ferreras — D’Hermilly. 

*5  See  Gieseler,  \ 57,  n.  2,  Gallia  Christian.  Pariss.  1716. 


Gaul. 


3o8 


History  of  the  Church. 


The  Rhine. 


Britain. 


Prince 

Lucfus. 


Toulouse,  and  other  central  places.  One  of  the  seven,  Diony- 
sius of  Paris,  was  confounded  by  subsequent  tradition  with 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  converted  by  S.  Paul.  The  great 
Council  held  in  Arles,  at  the  close  of  this  period,  is  a satisfac- 
tory proof  of  the  thriving  condition  of  the  Gallican 
Church.  About  the  same  time  we  find  proof  of  the 
existence  of  Bishops  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Vindelicia.*^ 

The  Gospel  preached  in  Britain  during  the  Apostolic  times, 
and  probably  by  S.  Paul  or  some  of  his  companions, must  have 
lingered  in  the  island  ; for  in  the  days  of  Eleutherus 
the  Roman  Bishop,  Lucius,  a petty  prince,  sent  an 
embassage  to  Rome  in  quest  of  Christian  preachers.*® 
In  the  spread  of  truth,  the  supply  always  in  a measure  precedes 
the  demand.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  there  was  within 
the  island  of  Britain  knowledge  enough  of  Christianity  to 
produce  among  the  wiser  princes  a wish  for  more.  Eleutherus 
granted  the  request ; and  at  the  end  of  this  era  the  blood  of 
several  martyrs  in  the  Tenth  Persecution,  and  the  presence  of 
three  Bishops  at  the  Council  of  Arles,  witnessed  the  success  of 
their  evangelic  labors. 

Thus  a belt  around  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  averaging  some 
two  hundred  miles  in  breadth,  and  occupied  by  the  most  vigorous 
and  enlightened  nations  of  the  old  Roman  world,  was 
the  field  of  the  first  struggle  and  the  first  victory  of  the 
Gospel.  But  in  reference  to  this  region  and  this  period  it  may  be 
said  most  truly  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  came  not  with  observa- 
tion. It  was  for  the  most  part  a silent  and  unrecorded  growth. 
So  uncertain  are  the  materials  for  forming  a correct  judgment  of 
its  extent  in  reference  to  the  entire  population,  and  so  contra- 
dictory in  some  respects  are  the  data  usually  appealed  to,  that 
from  one  point  of  view  the  lowest  estimates  may  appear  too 


Summary. 


*6  Gieseler,  g 57,  nn.  3,  5. 

*7  Stillingfleet,  Orig,  Britan. 

*8  Bede,  Eccl.  Hist.  ch.  iv.  Stillingfleet  combats  this  tradition  fas  it 
seems  to  me)  on  very  narrow  grounds.  In  Britain,  as  in  Gaul,  there  may 
easily  have  been  several  successive  foundations. 


309 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

high, while  from  another  the  most  liberal  calculation  seems 
hardly  to  give  room  for  all  the  requirements  of  the  problem. 
In  such  a case  the  middle  ground  assumed  by  most  modern 
writers  has  little  more  to  commend  it  than  either  of  the  two 
extremes. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

CHURCH  GROWTH  AND  LIFE. 

On  the  death  of  Valerian,  the  Church  had  rest  from  perse- 
cution for  a period  of  forty  years.  Gallienus  acknowledged  it  as 
a religio  licita, — a sect  entitled  to  legal  toleration.  Gaiiienus, 
That  this,  however,  was  not  an  absolute  security  against 
heathen  violence,  was  shown  in  the  case  of  one  Marinus  in 
Palestine,  who  being  a prominent  candidate  for  the  office  of 
centurion  in  the  army,  was  accused  for  his  Christian  faith  by 
the  opposite  party,  and  was  on  that  account  cast  into  prison 
and  beheaded.  The  reign  of  Claudius  and  the  first  Aureiian^ 
four  years  of  Aurelian  were  still  more  favorable  to  the 
Christian  cause : and  though  an  edict  of  persecution  put  forth 
by  the  latter  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign  created  a momentary 
panic,  yet  its  execution  being  arrested  by  the  sudden  Diocletian, 
death  of  the  Emperor,  the  rest  of  the  century,  includ- 
ing  the  greater  part  of  the  reign  of  Diocletian,  was  a season 
of  unwonted  peace. 

But  with  every  lull  in  the  storm  of  persecution,  the  quiet  but 
broad  and  steady  progress  of  Christianity  became  more  apparent. 
The  time  had  gone  by  when  its  influence  could  be 

Progress 

confined  to  the  bosoms  of  the  devoted  few.  Its  doc-  of  the 

trine,  more  diffusive  than  its  discipline,  had  penetrated 

the  palace,  the  senate,  the  camp,  every  place  in  fact  but  the 

*9  In  this  question,  much  depends  on  the  force  we  allow  to  rhetorical 
expressions  of  some  of  the  Fathers.  Where  statistics  are  concerned,  rhetoric, 
as  a general  rule,  is  extremely  unreliable. 


310 


History  of  the  Church. 


Growth 
of  the 
Church 
Slow. 


theatres  and  temples ; had  gone  beyond  the  borders  of  the  Roman 
Among  all  Empire;  and  was  becoming  so  entwined  with  men’s 
Classes.  interests  and  affections,  that  society  could  no  longer 
strike  it  without  inflicting  wounds  more  or  less  serious  upon  itself. 

Had  this  growth  of  the  Church  been  tenfold  more  rapid 
than  it  was,  it  would  have  been  vastly  more  easy  to  account  for 
on  philosophic  principles ; history  supplying  instances 
enough  of  sects  overrunning  large  portions  of  the 
earth,  and  gaining  a dominant  power,  in  the  space  of 
one  or  two  generations.  Thus  Mohammedanism,  for  example 
— a great  martial  impulse  among  a people  intensely  martial — 
swept  on  to  a victorious  position  upon  the  swell  of  a single  tide. 
But  the  Gospel  could  boast  of  no  such  sudden,  uninterrupted 
and  overwhelming  triumphs.  To  win  the  first  and  lowest 
Her  Ser~  Stage  of  the  promised  victory ; to  rise  from  a position 
vant  Form.  social  degradation  to  one  of  ordinary  security  for  life 
and  limb ; required  ten  generations  of  obscure  and  persevering 
struggle.  Only  here  and  there,  during  all  this  period,  did  the 
Church  ever  appear  in  other  than  the  servant  form.  The  world 
the  meanwhile  was  continually  agitated : nation  rising  against 
nation,  and  kingdom  against  kingdom ; dynasties  passing  away, 
philospohies  and  religions  changing,  the  Empire  becoming  more 
and  more  a sort  of  chronic  revolution.  Yet  amid  all  the  oppor- 
tunities thus  recurring,  Christians  alone  never  struck  a blow. 

During  a period  in  which  millions  of  lives  were  lost  in 
religious  insurrections,  the  Church  alone  never  for  a 
moment  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  or  change.  The 
great  Conspiracy  alone — for  as  such  the  heathen  regarded  it — 
never  conspired,  never  rebelled ; never  threw  the  weight  of  a 
feather  into  the  scale  by  which  political  destiny  was  decided. 

Now  a faith  which  could  survive  so  long  a period  of  depres- 
sion is  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  successful  religious 
movements:  it  makes  the  problem  of  the  Church’s 
Without  triumph  so  unprecedented,  that  to  attempt  to  explain 
Precedent,  ‘i-  ordinary  principles  is  simply  to  ignore  what  the 
nature  of  the  problem  is. 


Her 

Patient 

Waiting. 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 


311 


Gibbon's 

Five 

Causes, 


Accordingly,  of  the  five  chief  causes  assigned  by  a celebrated 
historian,*  not  one  is  in  any  way  peculiar  to  the  Church.  They 
are  equally  applicable  to  one  or  other  of  the  heresies 
with  which  she  had  to  contend.  In  zealous  abhorrence 
of  idolatry;  in  confident  expectation  of  a Judgment 
and  Millennium  ; in  the  profession  of  miraculous  endowments ; 
in  ascetic  and  enthusiastic  virtues ; and  finally,  in  a polity  popu- 
lar, flexible,  and  stable  in  its  character,  the  system  of  Montanus 
had  a perceptible  advantage  ; besides  all  which,  being  later  on  the 
ground,  and  starting  free  from  the  encumbrance  of  Judaic  ante- 
cedents, it  was  in  a position  to  avail  itself  of  the  experience 
and  to  profit  by  the  errors  of  its  hated  rival.  If  such  causes, 
therefore,  are  to  be  deemed  sufficient,  Montanism  ought  to  have 
become  the  dominant  religion. 

Another  glaring  fallacy  of  the  same  historian  is,  that,  while 
he  takes  delight  in  exposing  the  folly,  inconsistency,  and  extrav- 
agance of  the  primitive  believers,  and  proves  inciden-  Another 
tally  that  all  these  things  were  scandals  to  the  heathen, 
he  yet  manages  to  divert  them  from  their  true  bearing  upon  the 
question  of  the  Church’s  growth.  Now  victories,  of  course,  may 
sometimes  be  achieved  in  despite  of  weakness.  It  is  obvious, 
however,  that  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  weakness  proved 
against  a conquering  system,  the  difficulty  increases  of  account- 
ing philosophically  for  the  prosperity  of  that  system ; and  the 
necessity  of  discovering  an  extraordinary  cause  becomes  more 
apparent.  A heavy  drag  upon  a ship  is  a sufficient  reason  to 
assign  for  the  slowness  of  her  progress ; but  to  speak  of  such  a 
thing  as  if  it  helped  in  anyway  to  account  for  her  progress,  is  as 
contrary  to  philosophy  as  to  common-sense. 

But  in  this  respect,  the  unfriendly  hand  which  has  done  so 
much  towards  exposing  the  failings  and  infirmities  strength 
of  the  first  ages  of  believers,  has  rendered  a real  ser-  fer/ecUn 
vice  to  the  cause  of  Truth.  No  one  has  done  more 
than  the  philosophic  historian  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 

* History  of  the  Decline  and*  Fall  of  the  Roman  Kmpire.,  by  Edward 
Gibbon,  Esq.,  with  notes  by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Milman,  etc.,  chap.  xvi. 


312 


History  of  the  Church. 

Roman  Empire^  to  show  that  Christianity  had  not  an  easy 
triumph.  Its  progress  was  slow  : which  gave  abundant  oppor- 
tunity for  zeal  to  flag,  and  for  opposition  to  rally:  The  contest 
Victory  not  was  not  in  a corner,  or  among  half  civilized  races  of 
easy.  inferior  type : it  was  in  the  centre  of  aesthetic,  scien- 
tific, and  philosophic  culture.  The  prejudices  to  be  overcome 
were  not  those  of  superstition  merely  : they  were  domestic,  polit- 
ical, national,  religious ; interwoven  into  every  thread  of  that 
great  social  web  which  human  wisdom  in  its  perfection  had 
been  for  so  many  centuries  engaged  in  weaving.  The  resist- 
ance, consequently,  was  not  a mere  fitful  gust : it  was  the 
stubborn  opposition  of  an  intelligent,  deep-rooted,  and  uncom- 
promising hatred.  All  this  appears,  unintentionally  perhaps, 
but  in  colors  as  true  as  they  are  vivid,  in  the  remarkable  pic- 
ture drawn  by  the  skeptical  historian.  A believer  is  under  no 
necessity  to  impugn  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  portrait. 
God  manifest  in  flesh — a strength  divine  made  perfect  in 
strength  in  human  weakness — is  as  prominent  in  the  history  as  in 
Weakness.  doctrine  of  the  Church.  The  infidel  delights  in 

the  exposure  of  that  weakness ; the  believer  prefers  to  contem- 
plate that  strength:  to  appreciate  fully  the  great  problem  of 
Church  history,  it  is  needful  to  look  at  both,  and,  whatever 
facts  may  be  found  to  illustrate  either,  to  admit  them  in  a can- 
did though  reverential  spirit. 

Considered  in  its  first  and  simplest  aspect,  the  conflict  of 
early  Christianity  was  an  intellectual  battle  betwixt  Truth  and 
j Error.  It  was  the  sublime  theology  of  the  Gospel 
Truth  and  opposed  to  a system  of  superstitions  which  had  lost 

Error.  , , , i i i i , 

what  hold  they  ever  had  upon  reason  and  conscience, 
and  were  cherished  only  as  they  ministered  to  pride  and  lust, 
or  at  best  to  conventional,  social,  or  patriotic  feelings. 

Of  this  essential  weakness  of  the  opposing  side  the  Apolo- 
gist  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself.  Heathen  super- 
Apoiogtist  stitions,  in  all  their  littleness  and  vileness,  were  held 

and  Sophist.  . . . 

up  to  scorn  as  well  as  to  merited  reprobation.  But 
weapons  of  ridicule  were  available  on  either  side.  The  doctrine 


Chui^ch  Growth  and  Life.  3 1 3 


of  the  Cross  was  literally  a folly  to  the  Greeks ; while  to  the 
supercilious  and  worldly-minded  Roman  it  appeared  as  a bale- 
ful and  extravagant  superstition.  When  a Celsus,*  therefore, 
armed  with  the  light  weapons  of  an  Epicurean  indifference, 
gave  loose  rein  to  the  spirit  of  mockery  and  profanity,  weapons  0/ 
ridiculing  the  Birth,  the  Death,  the  Resurrection,  or 
the  Miracles  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  he  found  no  lack  of  hear- 
ers and  admirers.  Moreover,  what  could  not  be  proven  against 
the  Truth  was  easily  asserted.  The  follies  and  enormities  of 
certain  Gnostic  sects  afforded  a handle  against  the  body  whose 
name  they  assumed  ; and  the  heathen  mind,  from  long  famil- 
iarity with  religion  as  a cloak  for  vice,  could  not  only  impute 
crimes  seemingly  incredible,  but  could  give  ready  faith  to  the 
monstrous  imputation. 

And  even  in  the  nobler  phases  of  that  long-continued  strug- 
gle, when  Christianity  appeared  on  the  positive  side  and  pre- 
sented herself  in  her  sublime  theology  or  pure  moral- 

^ Wisdom 

ity,  she  was  plausibly  confronted  by  appeals  to  the 
older  system  of  the  Hebrews,  or  to  a philosophy  which 
chameleon-like  could  assume  the  very  color  of  the  faith  it 
labored  to  destroy.  Such  was  the  policy  of  the  Neo-Platonic 
and  other  syncretistic  schools. ^ A Plotinus  or  a Porphyry 
could  adorn  Platonism  before  the  mirror  of  the  Gospel,  and 
then  accuse  the  Gospel  of  borrowing  from  Platonism.  Chris- 
tianity, in  fact,  had  much  in  common  with  all  sys- 
terns  of  philosophy  and  religion.  She  availed  herself  Syncretistic 

1.,  r , , . 1 ■ Schools, 

readily  of  whatsoever  things  were  true,  honest,  pure, 
lovely,  and  of  good  report  in  the  learning  of  the  times.  When 


^Origen  against  Celsus  preseiTes  several  specimens  of  his  style.  In 
Minucius  Felix  the  Roman  spirit  is  better  represented.  For  an  account  of 
the  writers  against  Christianity,  see  Fabricii,  Saluiaris  Lux  Evangelii^  etc., 
cap.  V.  iii. 

^ The  Dialogue  of  Minucius  Felix,  though  it  gives  the  victory  to  the 
right  side,  of  course,  does  not  make  the  victory  too  easy  by  putting  only  feeble 
arguments  in  the  mouth  of  the  adversary.  It  does  full  justice  to  the  heathen 
side.  A like  remark  applies  to  Justin’s  dialogue  with  Trypho,  and  to  Origen’s 
quotations  from  Celsus. 

14 


314  History  of  the  Church. 


the  votaries  of  human  wisdom,  therefore,  pointed  to  what  was 
good  and  fair  in  the  lore  of  the  ancient  world,  and  said  to 
the  Church,  as  Israel  said  to  Judah  in  their  strife  for  the  person 
of  David,  ‘‘  We  have  ten  parts  in  the  king  and  more  right  than 
you,”  it  was  not  easy  to  convince  them  that  the  one  part  of 
Judah,  being  the  head  and  life,  was  of  infinitely  more  impor- 
tance than  the  other  parts  together.  The  victory,  in  short, 
seemed  to  hang  long  in  even  balance.  For  it  was  not  a simple 
contest  between  Truth  and  a sheer  Lie.  The  Lie  came  to  the 
battle  armed  in  the  attributes  of  Truth.  The  rods  of  the  magi- 
cians could  assume  the  shape  and  semblance  of  the  Lawgiver's 
rod.  If  the  latter  at  length  proved  superior,  it  was  owing  in 
Vitality  of  the  main  to  its  greater  vitality  and  endurance.  The 
Truth.  Moses  conquered  by  swallowing  the  other 


II. 

Witness 

UNTO 

Blood. 


rods. 

Where  the  Apologist  was  deficient,  the  Martyr  by  his  simple 
witness  unto  death  was  somewhat  more  successful.  Yet  even 
here  the  cause  of  Truth  had  a heavy  drag  upon  it.  To 
a sober  and  philosophic  Pliny,  or  to  the  acrid  genius 
of  the  great  historian  of  the  first  Caesars,  martyrdom 
seemed  little  else  than  a headstrong  and  penible  absurdity.^* 
The  witty  Lucian  could  discern  nothing  in  it  but  food  for 
laughter. 5 And  the  confessors  themselves,  as  we  have  seen 
often  enough  in  the  course  of  early  Church  history,  were  not 
always  an  ornament  to  their  glorious  vocation.  It  was,  there- 
fore, only  by  little  and  little  that  the  seed  sown  in  blood  took 
root  and  grew:  only  by  oft-repeated  mowings  that  the  thin 
grass  thickened  into  solid  sward.  It  was  not  by  martyrdoms, 
in  short,  for  Error  has  its  martyrs  as  well  as  Truth : 
but  by  ten  generations  of  continuous  martyrdom — the 
witness  unto  death  being  but  the  pledge  of  a life-long  universal 
witness  under  social  and  political  annoyances  of  every  possible 
description — that  the  Church  was  enabled  to  prove  herself  in 
earnest ; to  purge  society  of  that  fearful  frivolity  wherein,  after 


Martyrs. 


4 Inflexibilis  obstinatio.’ 


5 De  morte  Peregrinu 


Church  Growth  and  Life.  315 

all,  the  strength  of  heathenism  lay ; and  to  outlive,  if  not  to 
overcome,  the  power  of  misrepresentation. 

The  Church’s  pride  in  her  martyrs  proved  also  a source  of 
weakness,  by  opening  the  way  to  a sort  of  hero-worship ; these 
worthies  being  regarded  as  immediately  exalted  to  a poiHes  and, 
share  of  the  reign  and  judgment-seat  of  Christ.^  Scandals. 
Hence  a fondness  for  relics.  Hence  a dangerous  predilection 
for  cemeteries  as  places  of  worship.  Follies  of  this  sort  were 
more  or  less  rebuked,  and  were  not  so  bad  as  in  later  times. 
They  were  patent  enough,  however,  to  provoke  the  ridicule  of 
the  heathen,  and  to  turn  the  edge  of  the  Christian  argument 
against  polytheism  and  idolatry.  What  troubles  were  occasioned 
by  the  popular  reverence  for  confessors,  has  been  sufficiently 
noticed  in  previous  chapters  of  this  Book. 

The  spread  of  the  Gospel  continued  to  be  accompanied 
more  or  less  with  faith  in  the  assistance  of  supernatural  powers. 
Of  miracles,  indeed,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,^ 
there  are  few  instances  recorded,  and  those  not  attested  Signs  and 

, . , , - T • Wonders. 

by  eye-witnesses  ot  the  facts.  Justin  Martyr,  one  of 
the  earliest  of  the  Apologists,  is  chary  in  his  appeals  to  evi- 
dences of  that  kind  ; and  though  supernatural  gifts  are  men- 
tioned both  by  him  and  by  Irenaeus  and  Tertullian  as  still  sub- 
sisting in  the  Church,  yet  the  instances  alleged — the  healing  of 

^ The  popular  belief  that  Martyrs  went  at  once  to  Heaven  tended  to 
something  like  worship  of  them  as  intercessors  with  God.  S.  Cyprian  endeav- 
ors at  least  to  put  ^ this  deification  of  them:  ‘<We  believe  indeed  that  the 
merits  of  the  martyrs  and  the  good  works  of  the  righteous  avail  much  with  the 
Judge;  but  when  the  day  of  yudgment  conies^  when  after  the  end  of  this 
world  the  people  of  Christ  shall  stand  before  His  tribunal.”  In  the  same 
way,  he  insists  upon  the  condition^  on  which  the  intercessions  of  the  martyrs 
should  be  found  available  : ‘‘For  the  penitent,  for  the  diligent,  for  the  prayer- 
ful, He  can  graciously  make  acceptable  what  the  martyrs  have  asked  and 
what  the  priests  have  done.”  De  Lapsisy  17,  36.  See  Tertull.  De  Pudicit, 
22;  and  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  apud  Euseb.  vi.  42. 

7 Miracles,  that  is,  which,  the  facts  being  admitted,  must  be  ascribed 
immediately  to  the  Power  of  God.  See,  on  this  subject,  Douglases  Criterio7ty 
Farmer  on  Miracles,  Kaye’s  Tertullian  and  Justin  Mardyr,  and  Middleton’s 
Free  Enquiry. 


3i6 


History  of  the  Church. 

the  sick,^  the  cure  of  the  bite  of  serpents,  and  the  exorcising  of 
detnons — belong  to  a class  of  wonders  which,  without  a minute 
knowledge  of  all  the  circumstances,  or  without  the  corroborat- 
ing evidence  of  signs  less  equivocal,  no  one  feels  constrained  to 
charisms  receive  as  Divine  acts.  The  charisms  ceased  gradu- 
temforary.  as  the  need  of  them  ceased. ^ They  pertained  to 
the  first  planting  rather  than  to  the  growth  of  the  Church.  So 
far  as  the  like  of  them  occurred  in  later  times,  they  seem  to  be- 
long to  that  lower  class  of  wonders,  in  which  faith  operates 
through*®  and  not  over  or  against  the  mysterious  energies  of 
nature. 

But  for  this  latter  class  of  wonders  there  may  have  been  a 
real  need  in  the  age  now  under  review.  Each  era  of  the  world 
has  its  own  spiritual  and  intellectual  wants  ; and  a faith  which 
aims  to  be  useful,  instinctively  addresses  itself  to  those  v.ants, 
as  commonly  understood  at  the  time.  Now  the  world  in  which 
the  early  Christians  moved,  was  one  that  believed  in  the  reality 
The  of  demoniacal  possessions.  Hence  a universal  faith  in 
^ndtht^  magic  and  divination.  Christians  were  on  a level 
Exorcist.  their  age  in  point  of  scientific  knowledge.  As  to 

the  agency  of  demons,  they  knew  as  much,  or  as  little,  as  the 
world  around  them  knew.  But  they  were  superior  to  their  age 
in  believing  that  the  powers  at  which  heathenism  trembled  had 
been  brought  into  subjection  by  the  virtue  of  the  Cross,  and  in 

®The  raising  of  the  dead  mentioned  by  Irenseus,  is  expressly  distin- 
guished by  him  from  the  miracles  of  our  Lord.  Eusebt  v.  lo. 

9 ‘‘  Not  even  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  Scripture  history  are  miracles 
wrought  at  random  . . . nor  are  they  strown  confusedly  over  the  face  of  the 
history,  being  with  few  exceptions  reducible  to  three  eras  : the  formation  of 
the  Hebrew  Church  and  polity,  the  reformation  in  the  times  of  the  idolatrous 
kings  of  Israel,  and  the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel.  Let  it  be  observed, 
moreover,  that  the  power  of  working  them,  instead  of  being  assumed  by  any 
classes  of  men  indiscriminately,  is  described  as  a prerogative  of  the  occasional 
prophets.^  to  the  exclusion  of  the  kings  and  priests.”  Newman’s  Apollonius 
of  Tyana. 

*0  See  explanation  of  the  cures  wrought  at  the  tomb  of  the  Abbe  Paris, 
and  other  like  cases,  in  Douglas’s  Criterion. 


Church  Growth  and  Life.  317 

the  holy  Name  of  Jesus  might  be  effectually  vanquishea.  Hence 
the  direction  that  faith  instinctively  assumed.  The  Exorcist 
kept  his  place  in  the  Church,"  when  prophecy,  miracles,  and 
tongues  had  ceased.  Without  pretending  to  be  wiser  than  the 
science  of  the  day  with  regard  to  the  mysterious  border-land” 
of  the  natural  and  supernatural.  Religion  felt  itself  to  be  more 
powerful  than  science.  Heathenism  was  confronted  in  its 
strongholds  of  magical  pretensions.  The  demons  that  philoso- 
phers invoked,  and  before  which  philosophers  trembled, *3  be- 
lievers set  at  naught  and  put  under  a ban.  And  the  result  was 
on  the  whole  favorable  to  their  cause.  Whether  the  wonders 
wrought  by  the  Christian  thaumaturge  were  many  or  few ; 
whether  strictly  superhuman,  or  merely  the  effect  of  an  enthu- 
siastic faith  working  through  certain  latent  energies 
of  nature : they  were  at  all  events  wrought  in  good  superior  to 
conscience ; they  were  confidently  appealed  to  they 
had  the  effect  of  making  Christians  superior  to  the  fear  of  the 

“ But  when  the  Council  of  Laodicea  decreed  (Can.  26)  that  no  one 
should  exorcise^  either  in  public  or  in  private,  unless  ordained  by  a Bishopj 
the  belief  in  exorcism  as  “ a gift”  was  manifestly  on  the  ware.  This  Coun- 
cil is  variously  dated  from  314  to  372. 

Middleton,  in  his  Free  Enquiry , seems  to  leave  no  place  for  this  mid- 
dle ground — this  terra  incognita  of  dreams,  visions,  presentiments,  and  the 
like — but  attributes  all  wonders  of  every  kind  to  mere  jugglery : a very  lame 
philosophy  to  any  one  who  believes  that  there  is  such  a thing  as  a soul.  See 
Dodw.  Diss.  Cypr.  iv. 

^3  Gibbon,  with  his  usual  art,  represents  the  philosophers  as  resorting  to 
magic,  by  way  of  rivalry  to  Christian  exorcism.  The  reverse  is  certain. 
Simon  Magus,  Elymas,  and  Apollonius  are  types  of  a class  that  flourished  long 
before  and  long  after  the  Gospel  was  preached. 

Tertullian’s  challenge  (^Apolog.  23)  can  leave  no  doubt  of  his  belief  in 
the  reality  both  of  demoniacal  possession,  and  of  the  power  of  exorcism  : 
“ Let  some  one  be  brought  forward  here  at  the  foot  of  your  judgment-seat, 
who,  it  is  agreed,  is  possessed  of  a demon.  When  commanded  by  any  Chris- 
tian to  speak,  that  spirit  shall  as  truly  declare  itself  a demon  as  elsewhere 
falsely  a god.”  For  references  to  similar  statements  of  Irenaeus,  Justin  M., 
Tatian,  Origen,  Minut.  Felix,  Cyprian,  Arnobius,  Lactantius,  and  Eusebius, 
see  note  to  Oxf.  translat.  of  Tertullian,  vol.  i.  p.  57. 


3 1 8 History  of  the  Church. 

black  arts  resorted  to  by  magicians ; and  it  was  felt  among  the 
heathen  that  against  a peculiar  and  mysterious  class  of  evils,  to 
which  the  whole  world  was  held  in  hopeless  subjection,  the 
Name  of  Christ  was  more  powerful  than  any  other  name. 

There  was  a deeper  and  broader  effect  from  wonders  of  a 
more  spiritual  and  less  exceptionable  kind.  The  conversion 
^ . of  men  from  enemies  into  friends  ’’  was  the  glory  of 

JEnemies  , . 

made  the  Gospel.  These  conversions,  sometimes  instan- 

Friends. 

taneous,  especially  at  scenes  of  martyrdom,  but  more 
frequently  the  result  of  gradual  conviction,  were  numerous 
enough  to  keep  up  a steady  increase  of  the  Church,  even  in 
times  of  disaster  and  persecution.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
Weak  many  fell  away  from  timidity  or  weakness,  few  of 
Members,  relapsed  into  heathenism.  They  merely  bent 

before  a storm  they  were  not  able  to  resist.  As  soon  as  the 
storm  passed,  these  men  of  little  faith  returned ; and  there  was 
no  ignominy  they  would  not  submit  to,  no  hardship  they  would 
not  endure,  to  win  their  way  back  to  a place  among  the  stand- 
ing brethren. 

It  was  probably  the  large  proportion  of  timid  disciples  of 
this  sort  that  gave  so  rigid  a form  to  the  discipline  of  the  early 

IV.  Church. Before  the  third  century  there  was  already 
Discipline.  ^ catechumcnal  probation  of  three  years  preparatory  to 
baptism : a custom  for  which  we  look  in  vain  for  any  Apostolic 
precedent.  For  those  who  lapsed  or  fell  into  open  sin,  there 
was  an  exclusion  from  communion  of  three  or  four  years ; dur- 
ing which  term  the  person  doing  penance  was  not  allowed  to 
enter  the  body  of  the  Church.  In  all  this  there  was  a tendency 

*5  Tertullian  (^De  Prcescript.  41,  42)  makes  discipline  a note  of  the  true 
Church.  To  let  heathen  come  into  their  assemblies  was  to  give  that  vohich  is 
holy  to  the  dogSy  to  cast  pearls  before  swine.  Heretics  he  represents  as  per- 
fecting (baptizing)  catechumens  before  they  were  taught ; as  allowing  women 
to  teach,  and  even  to  baptize ; as  admitting  novices  (persons  recently  con- 
verted) to  the  Ministry,  and  allowing  them  to  continue  in  secular  pursuits,  etc. 
It  is  easy  to  see,  however  just  his  censures  may  be  in  the  main,  that  in  some 
points  they  would  condemn  the  practice  of  Apostolic  times,  i Cor.  xiv. 
23-25  ; Acts.  xvi.  27-33. 


Church  Growth  and  Life.  3 1 9 

towards  legalism,  or  towards  an  over-sharp  distinction  between 
the  ‘^perfect**  and  the  imperfect/^  It  may  have  been,  also, 
that  the  probation  before  baptism  fostered  a disposition  to  defer 
as  long  as  possible  the  open  and  full  confession  of  the  Name  of 
Christ.  A strict  discipline,  however,  seemed  necessary  for  the 
times.  And  as  the  Bishops  retained  in  their  own  hands  a 
power  of  indulgence  or  mitigation,  the  evils  resulting  ^ 
from  it  were  probably  less  for  awhile  than  the  power  it  porary 

^ . System. 

gave  the  Church  over  a loose  crowd  of  well-meaning, 
though  feeble  and  timid  members.  Whatever  its  merits  may  have 
been,  iUcontinued  in  its  strictness  hardly  more  than  a century. 

The  numerical  strength  of  the  early  Church  has  been  so  ex- 
aggerated by  hatred  on  the  one  side,  and  by  a too  sanguine  faith 
on  the  other,  that  it  seems  impossible  to  arrive  at  a y. 
satisfactory  conclusion.  The  ancient  mind  was  not 
arithmetical ; and  when  it  passed  beyond  thousands 
into  the  region  of  myriads,  it  was  more  apt  to  fly  on  the  wings 
of  fancy  than  to  keep  to  the  foot-pace  of  prosaic  calculation. 
From  such  statistics  as  remain,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  middle 
of  the  third  century  Christians  could  in  few  of  the  large  cities 
have  counted  more  than  one  twentieth  of  the  population  as  on 
their  side.*^  But  this  twentieth  part  was  not  a mere  crowd,  it 

This  distinction  the  Manichseans  carried  out  in  its  utmost  rigor : the 
“ hearers’^  and  the  perfect”  were  with  them  almost  different  castes.  On  the 
subject  of  Discipline,  see  Kaye’s  Tertulliauy  ch.  iv. ; also  Bingham’s  Antiq- 
uities, Marshall’s  Penitential  Discipline,  Morinus,  De  Disciplina,  etc.,  Bates’s 
Coll.  Lectures  on  Chr.  Antiquities,  etc.  For  other  writers  on  this  subject,  see 
Fabricii,  Lux  Evangel,  ix.  7. 

*7  Gibbon  (ch.  xv.)  makes  on  the  whole  a fair  calculation.  For  copious 
reference  to  passages  suggesting  a higher  estimate,  see  note  to  Oxford  trans- 
lation of  Tertullian,  vol.  i.  p.  3.  From  Tertull.  Apolog.  37,  it  seems  possible 
that  among  that  select  population  who  had  the  right  of  citizenship,  Christians 
were  a majority.  If  so,  the  large  expressions  both  of  Christian  and  heathen 
writers  are  easily  accounted  for : the  rabble  and  the  slave  population  counting 
for  naught  in  their  estimate  of  numbers.  See  Milman,  Book  II.  ch.  ix.  note. 
The  large  and  (one  may  say)  absurd  calculations  formed  from  the  supposed 
number  of  bodies  in  the  Catacombs  have  been  noticed  in  chap.  iv.  of  this 
Book.  The  reason  of  heathen  exaggeration  may  be  seen  in  Deut.  ii.  25. 


320 


History  of  the  Cuurch. 

was  a disciplined  host.  It  was  to  be  found,  moreover,  and  with 
the  same  characteristics,  in  all  parts  of  the  Roman  world.  This 
fact  considered,  there  is  enough  to  account  for  the  ingens  multi- 
tudo  of  Tacitus,  for  the  partem  pcene  majorem  of  Tertullian,  and 
similar  vague  expressions  of  other  writers,  without  taking  such 
phrases  to  the  letter,  or  torturing  figures  of  speech  into  figures 
of  arithmetic.  It  is  certain  that  the  Christians  were  far  less 
numerous  than  the  heathen.  It  may  be  on  the  whole,  therefore, 
more  true  to  say  that  the  power  of  the  Church  led  to  an  uncon- 
scious exaggeration  of  its  numbers,  than  that  its  numbers  in 
reality  increased  its  power.  • 

A vastly  greater  influence  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  Catholicity 
of  the  Church,  the  Unity  of  the  Episcopate,  and  the 
^atholic  way  in  which,  under  a popular  but  stable  form  of  gov- 
ernment, general  and  local  interests  had  become  welded 

into  one. 

The  Apostolic  episcopate  or  oversight  of  the  Churches  was 
in  its  essence  collegiate : a fact  sufficiently  manifest  in  the  joint 
calling,  training,  and  commissioning  of  the  Twelve, 
in  their  joint  residence  for  so  long  a time  in  Jerusa- 
lem, in  their  subsequent  meetings  and  conferences, 
and  in  the  way  in  which  each,  after  their  dispersion,  became 
the  nucleus  of  a new  band  or  college  of  Apostolic  fellow- 
laborers.  But  the  collegiate  principle  applied  to  the  general 
interests  of  the  Church.*®  In  matters  of  local  interest  each 
Apostle  seems  to  have  acted  with  the  utmost  freedom  and 
independence. 

At  a somewhat  later  period,  when  the  number  of  chief  pas- 
tors was  greatly  multiplied,  and  the  limits  of  jurisdiction  pro- 
Locai  portionally  narrowed,  there  was  (humanly  speaking)  a 
Episcopate,  undue  development  of  the  principle  of 

local,  diocesan,  or  independent  episcopacy.  There  is  something 

This  was  shown  in  the  question  of  circumcision.  S.  Paul  might  havje 
settled  it  by  his  independent  inspiration ; but  it  was  thought  better  that  a mat- 
ter of  common  interest  should  be  settled  by  common  consent.  Hence  the 
Council  in  Acts,  xv. 


321 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

that  looks  like  this  in  the  writings  of  S.  Ignatius.^^  A Bishop 
in  his  own  city-see,  supported  by  his  own  crown  of  Presbyters, 
regarding  himself  as  speaking  and  ruling  in  Christ’s  stead,  and 
responsible  for  his  conduct  to  Christ  alone,  might  easily  degen- 
erate into  a puny  lord  spiritual,  isolated  within  his  own  narrow 
circle,  and  as  absolute  in  pretensions  as  weak  in  real  power. 
But  as  heresies  increased,  the  oneness  of  the  Bishopric  showed 
itself  to  be  the  Divinely  appointed  safeguard  against  this  peril. 
A common  cause  enforced  common  counsels.  Through 

. . Synods, 

Synods  holden  regularly  once  or  twice  a year  in  pres- 
ence of  the  whole  body  of  the  brethren,  and  through  canons 
requiring  at  least  two  Bishops  to  concur  in  consecrations,"  the 
episcopate  became  established  in  its  proper  Apostolic  form  of 
a collegium:  a commonwealth,  that  is,  of  colleagues  or  broth- 
ers^ all  supporting  a common  burden,  and  each  responsible  to 
all  for  the  portion  he  upheld."* ** 

From  this  accrued  many  obvious  advantages.  Though 
Ecumenical  Councils  were  as  yet  impracticable,  the  Provincial 
Synods  maintained  a strict  concert  with  one  another iniercom- 
and  the  Church  Catholic  was  knit  together  by  a living 
web  of  intercommunion,  pervading  the  remotest  quarters  of  the 
great  Roman  world. 

It  was  not  the  least  of  the  advantages  of  all  this,  that  it  nipped 

*9  Looks  like  itf  only;  for  it  is  obviously  unfair  to  construct  an  Ignatian 
theory  out  of  a few  obiter  dicta  in  one  or  two  Epistles.  If,  however,  a theory 
be  thus  constructed  and  opposed  to  the  Cyprianic  theory^  the  contrast  is  de- 
cidedly in  favor  of  the  latter.  The  Bishop  of  S.  Ignatius  (that  is,  according 
to  certain  critics)  has  very  much  the  air  of  a spiritual  autocrat.  But  the 
Bishop  of  S.  Cyprian  is  an  officer  sternly  and  closely  limited  from  above,  from 
below,  and  in  fact  from  all  around.  Dodw.  Dissert,  vii. 

Apostol.  Canon,  i. 

Episcopatus  unus  est,  cujus  a singulis  in  solidum  pars  tenetur.  S.  Cypr. 
De  Unit.  Eccl. 

• “ In  these  Synods  the  representative  idea  was  prominently  brought  out : 

Concilia  ex  universis  Ecclesiis,  per  quae  et  altiora  quaeque  in  commune  trac- 
tantur  et  ipsa  representaiio  totius  nominis  Christiani  magna  veneratione  cele- 
bratur.  Tertull.  De  Jejun.  13. 

14^ 


322 


History  of  the  Church. 

in  the  bud  any  tendency  that  might  exist  towards  absolutism,  on 
Bishops  the  part  of  Presbyters  or  of  Bishops.  However  a 
afolnti'  pastor  might  feel  disposed  to  lord  it  in  the  circle  of 
his  own  labors,  there  was  a vast  body  of  his  peers,  by 
whom  on  complaint  from  any  quarter  he  could  be  called  to  an 
account.  One  of  the  highest  positions  in  all  Christendom, 
conjoined  with  powerful  court  credit,  could  not  save  Paul  of 
Samosata  from  trial  and  deposition ; and  it  was  only  a timely 
explanation  that  saved  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  The  whole- 

23  Thus  the  attempt  of  Victor  and  Stephen  in  Rome  was  checked  effect- 
ually by  Irenaeus  and  Cyprian.  In  summing  up  his  statement  of  the  pri- 
macy in  Rome,  Ddllinger  candidly  remarks : But  we  must  confess  that 
the  power  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  his  relations  to  the  universal  Church, 
were  not  yet  fully  developed.  ...  It  was  in  the  natural  order  of  events  that 
the  formation  of  particular  Churches  should  precede,  and  that  the  connection 
of  the  Bishop  with  his  Clergy  and  flock  should  be  firmly  established : then 
came  the  time  for  the  institution  of  the  metropolitan  authority,”  etc.  On 
which  I remark  : (i)  The  supreme  power  in  any  society  is  always  the  first  to 
be  developed.  Time  merely  limits  that  power  by  developing  lower  functions, 
with  a system  of  checks  and  balances.  Thus  Moses  and  Aaron  were  more 
distinctly  and  absolutely  the  supreme  power  in  Israel  than  any  of  their  suc- 
cessors. (2)  The  “ natural  order  of  events  ” in  the  early  Church  was  first 
Christ  the  Head,  then  Apostles  representing  Christ,  then  great  metropolitan 
foundations  (Jerusalem,  Caesarea,  Antioch,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  etc.),  then 
Churches  everywhere.  In  other  words,  it  was  from  the  Head  down  through 
the  members,  not  up  through  the  members  to  the  Head.  The  highest  powers 
of  the  Church  were  the  first  manifested.  If,  then,  a papal  supremacy  was  the 
highest  power  of  all,  we  ought  to  find  it  most  clearly  exhibited  from  the  first. 
(3)  The  arguments  for  Episcopacy  and  Papacy  are  essentially  different  from 
one  another.  Episcopacy  we  see  clearly  in  Cyprian,  Ignatius,  James  of  Jeru- 
salem, the  Apostles ; and  nowhere  more  clearly  than  in  these  last.  Papacy  we 
see  clearly  in  Gregory  VIL,  less  clearly  in  Gregory  I.,  less  clearly  still  in 
Silvester,  least  clearly  of  all  in  the  first  three  centuries.  As  it  approaches  its 
supposed  fountain-head,  it  becomes  so  dwindled  down  that  even  Dollinger,  in 
defending  it,  has  to  call  it  a primacy — not  a supremacy.  But  a primacy  differs 
from  a supremacy,  as  the  power  of  a constitutional  president  differs  from  that 
of  an  autocrat  or  absolute  monarch.  See  Mosheim’s  Commentaries,  cent.  ii. 
§2  20-24  (Murdock’s  translation).  On  Development,  see  W.  Archer  Butler’s 
Letters  ; also  Brownson’s  Quarterly  (1847-8). 


323 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

some  working  of  this  system  is  witnessed  by  the  fact  that  while 
on  all  other  subjects  men  differed  and  formed  sects ; while  the 
Creed  and  the  Scriptures  were  exposed  to  the  violence  of  con- 
troversy ; yet,  in  the  matter  of  government  there  was  Episcopacy 
a wonderful  agreement : even  the  heretics  and  schis- 
matics,  the  Montanists,  Manichaeans,  Novatians,  Donatists,  and 
Meletians,  had  all  hierarchies  similar  in  form  at  least  to  that  of 
the  Catholic  Church. 

While  the  general  government  of  the  Church  was  thus  pow- 
erfully controlled  and  self-limited,  local  interests  were  managed 
in  an  equally  admirable  way.  That  polity,  on  the 
whole,  has  most  vital  force,  which  within  limits  of  Polity. 
mutual  respect  allows  the  freest  exercise  to  individual  gifts,  and 
employs  those  gifts  most  largely  for  the  benefit  of  all.  In  the 
early  Church,  the  solid  and  balanced  strength  of  an  Apostolic 
Episcopate  was  the  support  and  guaranty  of  such  whole-  Exercise 
some  liberty.  Hence,  in  Pentecostal  times,  the  liveli- 
ness  with  which  the  charisms  were  exercised  in  the  assemblies  of 
the  faithful.*^  No  ill-compacted  system  could  have  endured  such 
a strain  upon  it,  without  falling  into  disorder.  So,  in  later  times, 
the  number  and  activity  of  the  orders  of  the  sub-ministry  the 
popular  influence  of  the  Virgins  and  Confessors ; the  varied 
frequent  meetings  of  the  whole  body  of  the  People ; 
the  exciting  elections  of  Bishops  and  Presbyters ; the  trials  of 
the  lapsed  or  other  offenders,  in  the  presence  of  a deeply  inter- 
ested crowd,  half-witnesses,  half-judges;  the  eager  interest,  in 
short,  that  each  member  of  the  community^  took  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  discipline,  the  charities,  and  the  finances  of  the 

*4  I Cor.  xiv.  26. 

*5  In  the  Roman  Church  (a.d.  250)  there  were  subdeaconsy  acolythsy 
exorcistSy  readersy  janitors  (Euseb.  vi.  43);  to  which  may  be  added  copiatce 
(who  attended  to  the  burial  of  the  dead),  catechists y and  others;  though  some 
of  these  were  ‘‘  functions  ” (like  the  charisms  of  Pentecostal  times)  rather  than 
‘‘  orders  ” proper.  In  the  Apostolic  canons,  subdeacons y readers y and  singers 
are  put  in  the  same  category  with  laymeny  so  far  as  discipline  is  concerned 
(Canon  43).  On  this  subject,  see  Bingham’s  AntiquitieSy  Book  III. ; see  also 
Constitut.  Apostol.  ii.  57;  viii.  19-26,  28. 


324 


History  of  the  Church. 


Instances, 


Church : all  this  would  have  led  to  inextricable  confusion  and 
, to  schisms  without  end,  had  not  a balance-wheel  been 

The 

Balance-  provided  in  the  constitution  of  an  Episcopate,  which, 

wheel,  * . * . 

being  Catholic  as  well  as  local,  could  concentrate  the 
strength  of  the  whole  Body  upon  any  particular  point.  Thus  in 
the  Novatian  troubles  at  Rome,  in  the  sedition  of  the  five  Pres- 
byters at  Carthage,  and  in  the  resistance  made  by 
Paul’s  party  at  Antioch  after  the  condemnation  of  that 
heretic  : Cornelius,  Cyprian,  and  Domnus  were  sustained  by  the 
authority  of  their  colleagues  all  the  world  over.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  People  were  the  aggrieved  party — as  in  the  case 
of  the  Churches  of  Leon  and  Astorga  in  Spain — the  ready  inter- 
vention of  the  Episcopate  at  large  neutralized  the  aggressions 
of  any  particular  prelate,  even  of  the  energetic  Roman  Stephen. 

A polity  so  flexible  and  so  strong,  so  popular  in  its  action 
and  yet  so  conservative  in  its  basis,  was  doubtless  an  element 
both  of  growth  and  of  solid  influence  to  the  Church. 
Christian  Another  influence,  closely  akin  to  this,  is  the  power  of 
Christian  life ; a subject  already  anticipated  in  part, 
but  meriting  in  some  particulars  a more  exact  consideration. 

In  the  servant  stage  of  her  pilgrimage,  in  times  of  persecu- 
tion, when  led  as  it  were  into  the  wilderness  and  kept  apart,  the 
„ . Church  had  to  be  in  a peculiar  sense  ‘^the  household 

Domestic  ^ 

Ties  of  faith”:  not  the  complement  merely  of  social  and 

loosened,  * . 

domestic  ties,  but  in  a very  large  measure  the  practical 
substitute  for  them.  The  first  effect  of  the  Gospel  was  to  break 
up  family  relations.  Husband  was  set  against  wife,  and 
wife  against  husband ; and  a man’s  worst  enemies  often 
were  those  of  his  own  house.  Tertullian,  indeed,  paints 
a glowing  picture  of  that  home  in  which  man  and  wife 
were  one  in  the  same  faith ; and  thereby  shows  inci- 
dentally how  much  Christianity  was  doing  to  elevate 
and  refine  the  conjugal  relation.  But  the  very  glow  of  the  pic- 
ture creates  a suspicion  that  fancy  furnished  some  of  the  brightest 
colors.  It  is  remarkable,  also,  that  children  have  no  place  in 


The  Chris- 
tian  ideal 
of  Home 
not  favor- 
able to 
Marriage 
•while  the 
World 
remained 
Heathen, 


^ Tertull.  .<4^  Exor,  lib.  ii. 


325 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

the  matrimonial  paradise  thus  depicted.  It  is  still  more  remark- 
able that  the  effect  of  the  picture,  on  the  whole,  is  to  discourage 
wedlock  rather  than  promote  it.  The  simple  truth  was,  that, 
living  in  a world  each  breath  of  which  was  pestilential  to  all  but 
the  strongest  natures,^  a believer  shrank  from  matrimony  in  pro- 
portion as  the  ideal  he  had  formed  of  that  blessed  state  was  drawn 
from  the  pure  precepts  of  the  Gospel ; or,  if  marriage  from  any 
cause  seemed  to  be  unavoidable,  he  dreaded  at  all  events  the 
responsibility  of  an  increasing  family.  In  a society  still  heathen, 
with  just  light  enough  to  show  the  foulness  of  its  enormities, 
children  could  seldom  be  regarded  as  arrows  in  the  strong  man^s 
quiver : they  were  too  easily  perverted  into  weapons  for  his 
spiritual  foe."*®  To  be  childless,  therefore,  or,  if  the  burden 
of  offspring  were  imposed,  to  see  them  depart  early  to  children 
a safer  and  better  world,  was  considered  by  many  a 
legitimate  desire.  There  are,  nevertheless,  many  blossoms  of 
early  piety  in  the  annals  of  those  times.  Attention  was  paid, 
also,  to  Christian  education. On  the  whole,  however,  a genial 
domestic  tone  was  not  conspicuous  among  the  graces  of  the 
period.  The  pruning  of  the  vine  had  fallen  to  the  ‘‘wild  boar 

=7  To  appreciate  that  **  present  distress,”  which  led  to  an  undue  develop- 
ment of  the  encratite  spirit,  one  must  have  a notion  of  the  indescribable  turpi- 
tude of  heathen  morals ; but  to  give  an  idea  of  this,  even  under  the  veil  of 
Latin,  would  render  a book  unfit  to  meet  the  eye  of  the  ordinary  reader.  The 
state  of  modern  heathenism,  in  this  respect,  is  suggested  as  plainly  as  Chris- 
tian decency  permits,  in  the  very  trustworthy  book  of  Mr.  R.  B.  Minturn,  Jr., 
From  New  York  to  Delhi. 

^ **  Shall  we  seek  burdens,  which  even  the  Gentiles  for  the  most  part 
avoid?  ....  burdens  not  only  troublesome  to  us,  but  perilous  to  faith — ” 
Tertull.  Ad  Exor.  i.  5.  The  frightful  amount  of  pauperism,  with  exposure  of 
infants,  prostitution,  and  other  crimes,  led  many  of  the  fathers  to  believe  that 
the  world  was  overstocked.  See  Chastel’s  Essay  on  the  Charity  of  Primitive 
Christians  ; S.  Cypr.  Epistol.  ad  Denietriamim. 

^ Infant-baptism  was  favored  by  the  Church,  and  even  infant-communion. 
But  prudential  considerations  led  many  devout  persons,  such  as  the  mother  of 
S.  Augustine,  to  reserve  the  blessing  for  later  and  safer  years.  Tertullian  was 
a decided  advocate  of  such  delay. 


326  History  of  the  Church, 

out  of  the  wood/^  and  the  more  tender  shoots  of  the  plant  were 
naturally  the  first  to  suffer. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  life  of  the  early  Christians 
— their  polity  as  S.  Paul  appropriately  terms  it — was  public  and 
The  Church  Churclily  to  an  extent  inconceivable  in  our  days.  To 
« Council,  believers  were  assiduous  in  communion  or 

common  prayer,  gives  but  a faint  notion  of  the  real  state  of 
things.  The  ecclesia  was,  to  them,  not  a mere  place  of  worship : 
it  was  a synod,  a council,  an  ecclesiastical  exchange  in  short,  an 
assembling  of  themselves  together  for  devotional,  social,  char- 
itable and  business  purposes. 

In  the  morning  they  met,  to  the  great  disgust  of  the  heathen, 
for  the  ‘‘  daily  bread  and  as  they  went  forth  from  these  ante- 
Rites  and  lucan  meetings,  they  were  known  to  be  Christians  by 
Worship,  smell  upon  their  breath  of  the  merum  matutinum.^^ 

The  sacrament  was  still  a communion  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word.  In  the  celebration  of  it  there  were  but  few  departures  as 
yet  from  Apostolic  simplicity.  Tertullian  notices,^*  as  customs 
resting  on  tradition,  that  it  was  received  before  daybreak,  from 
the  hands  of  the  Bishop  only,  and  with  great  care  not  to  spill 
the  wine  or  to  drop  any  particle  of  the  bread.  Moreover,  on 
one  day  every  year,  oblations  were  made  for  the  dead  in  com- 
memoration of  their  birthday:  that  is,  of  their  entrance  into 
everlasting  life.^^  The  consecrated  elements  were  carried  to 

30  Churches,  therefore,  were  sometimes  called  Synodic  Concilia,  Conci- 
liabula,Conventicula.  Bingham’s  Antiquities,  viii.  i.  7.  For  the  order  observed 
in  Church,  see  Apostol.  Consiituf.  ii.  57. 

3*  The  daily  Eucharist  seems  to  have  been  the  custom  of  Rome,  Carthage, 
and  some  other  places  : see  Bingham,  xv.  ix.  4 ; also  S.  Cyprian,  De  Ccend 
Dom.  The  weekly  Eucharist  was  probably  the  general  rule. 

32  Tertull.  De  Coron.  iii. ; see  notes  to  the  Oxford  translation. 

33  The  names  of  the  departed  were  inscribed  upon  writing-tables  called 
diptychs,  and  after  being  commemorated,  were  erased  to  make  room  for  others. 
The  offerings  made  by  the  friends  of  the  departed  contributed  to  support  the 
charities  of  the  Church.  The  prayers  offered  pro  dorinitione  were  founded  on 
the  principle  announced  by  S.  Cyprian : ‘‘  Let  us  always  be  mindful  of  one 
another  ....  and  pray  for  one  another  wherever  we  may  be  ...  . and 


Church  Growth  and  Life.  327 


Customs, 


the  sick  by  deacons.  Communicants  sometimes  took  with  them 
a portion  of  the  bread,  and  tasted  it  before  each  meal.  The 
Eucharist  was  usually  celebrated  in  Church : it  was  not  as  yet 
forbidden,  however,  to  celebrate  it  in  prison,  or  in 
other  unconsecrated  places.  It  is  probable  enough,  that 
by  the  end  of  the  third  century  it  was  accompanied  with  an 
increase  of  ceremonial.  The  sacrament  of  Baptism  had  already 
admitted  many  additional  observances.  Previous  fasting,  exor- 
cism, renunciation,  unction,  trine  immersion,  recital  of  the 
Creed,  use  of  sponsors,  and  after  the  day  of  Baptism  a week’s 
abstinence  from  daily  washing,  are  among  the  peculiarities 
mentioned  by  early  writers.  The  worship  of  the  Lord’s  Day 
was  signalized  by  standing  in  prayer,  fasting  and  kneeling  being 
prohibited.  To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  signing  with  the  cross 
was  practised  on  all  occasions.^ 

At  night  Christians  came  together  in  a more  sociable  way 
for  the  Agape,  or  Love-feast : a sober  but  cheerful  repast,  which 
the  rich  provided,  and  which  to  many  of  the  poorer 
brethren  must  have  been  the  principal  meal  of  the 
day. 35  These  feasts  already  in  the  third  century  were  becoming 
more  luxurious,  and  less  religious  than  was  consistent  with  good 
order,  or  even  with  good  morals. It  would  seem^  however, 
that  such  misuse  was  only  occasional,  and  was  connected 
with  mortuary  repasts,  rather  than  with  the  love-feasts 
proper.  Indeed,  many  kinds  of  night  meetings  were  customary 
among  Christians : which  gave  occasion  of  scandal  to  the 


The  Agape, 


Its  A buse. 


whichever  of  us  shall  be  permitted  to  be  soonest  with  the  Lord,  let  his  love  for 
all  endure,  and  let  him  entreat  the  Lord’s  mercy  without  ceasing  for  his 
brothers  and  sisters.”  Ep,  Ivii.  ad  Cornelium, 

34  Tertull.  De  Cor.  iii. 

35  Our  feast  showeth  its  nature  in  its  very  name.  It  is  named  by  the 
word  which  in  Greek  stands  for  love.  ...  If  we  aid  every  poor  man  by  this 
refreshment,  it  is  not  to  enslave  their  liberty,  not  to  fill  their  bellies  at  the 
expense  of  their  self-respect,  but  to  be  like  God,  taking  special  thought  for 
men  of  low  degree.”  Tertull.  Apolog.  39. 

35  The  earliest  canonical  notice  of  abuses  in  the  love-feasts  seems  to  have 
been  in  the  Council  of  Laodicea : Can.  27,  28. 


328  History  of  the  Church. 

heathen,  and  could  hardly  fail  to  be  attended  more  or  less  with 
disorders  and  abuses. ^7 

There  was  enough  in  the  vicissitudes  and  perils  of  the  times 
to  give  a peculiar  zest  to  these  frequent  meetings.  Through 
Mutual  that  wonderful  network  of  fraternal  sympathy,  the 
Sympathy,  Comiiiunion  of  Saints,  no  part  of  the  Body  could  suffer 
without  all  feeling  with  it.^®  A brother,  for  example,  after  a 
long  journey  from  Antioch  or  Jerusalem,  having  saluted  all  the 
sister  Churches  by  the  way,  arrives  in  Rome,  bearing  credentials 
from  his  Bishop.  Perhaps  he  has  with  him  a handkerchief  or  a 
garment,  stained  with  the  sacred  blood  of  some  recent  martyr- 
dom. He  is  hospitably  received.  The  first  brother  he  meets  is 
glad  to  entertain  him.  His  feet  being  washed  and 

Hospitality.  , i , i • f i 

his  wants  attended  to  by  the  sister  and  conserva^  the 
devout  wife  of  his  host,  in  the  evening  he  is  presented  at  the 
Agape;  and  the  brethren  all  salute  him  with  ‘‘the  kiss  of 
peace.'*  It  is  .needless  to  go  into  the  particulars  of  such  scenes. 
To  any  one  who  has  studied  the  heart  of  the  old  classic  world, 
so  childlike  and  so  strong  amid  its  manifold  corruptions,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  non-resistance  to  evil  inculcated  in  the  Eccle- 
sia,  and  so  miraculously  maintained  for  three  hundred  years,  was 
no  stagnation  in  the  flow  of  earnest  life,  but  rather  the  token  of 
a mysterious  and  divine  controlling  power. 

But  a heathen,  to  whom  not  a syllable  was  breathed  of  the 
nature  of  this  politeia^  except  as  he  could  extort  a half-confession 
Heathen  from  a reluctant  wife  or  a stammering  slave,  and  who 
Calumnies.  nothing  of  the  controlling  influence  of  the  Ser- 

mon on  the  Mount,  would  naturally  regard  it  all  as  a sort  of 

37 Hence,  Can.  35  of  Elvira:  “ Women  are  forbidden  to  keep  vigils  in 
cemeteries,  lest  under  the  pretext  of  devotion  crimes  be  perpetrated.”  The 
passion  for  stimulating  services  in  cemeteries  and  over  the  niartyria  seems  to 
have  led  off  believers  to  the  meetings  of  heretics.  Concil.  Laodic.  Can.  9. 

38  « Communicatio  pacis,  appellatio  fraternitatis,  contesseratio  hospitali- 
tatis.”  Tertull.  De  Prcescript,  20.  Even  the  scoffing  Lucian  was  struck  with 
this  feature  of  Christianity  . “ It  is  incredible  to  see  the  ardor  with  which  that 
people  help  one  another  in  their  wants.  They  spare  nothing.  Their  first  legis- 
lator has  put  into  their  heads  that  they  are  all  brethren.” 


Church  Growth  and  Life.  • 329 

permanent  conspiracy.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  such  an  one 
should  curl  his  lip  with  scorn,  as  he  spoke  of  Christian  love 
that  the  opprobrious  word  stupra  should  be  associated  in  his 
mind  with  the  antelucan  Feast ; that  his  abhorrence  should  find 
vent  in  caricatures^  some  of  which,  in  all  their  fearful  blackness 
of  mingled  calumny  and  profanity,  are  still  occasionally  exhumed 
amid  the  living  death  of  Pompeii  that  he  should  regard  the 
Church,  in  short,  as  a slumbering  volcano,  the  outbreak  of  which 
might  at  any  moment  involve  the  whole  social  fabric  in  ruins. 

And  this,  indeed,  tvas  the  wonder  of  early  Christian  life  : a 
stumbling-stone  to  many,  yet  to  others  a means  of  irresistible 
conviction.  The  life  of  the  Ecclesia,  so  mysterious.  Daily  Life 
so  hated,  so  suspected,  was  accompanied  in  the  case  of 
individual  believers  with  a daily  walk,  quiet,  peaceable,  and  self- 
restrained,  in  which  calumny  itself  found  it  difficult  to  detect 
a serious  flaw.  A heathen  husband  might,  indeed,  be  vexed  at 
the  plain  attire  of  his  Christian  wife ; he  might  look  upon  it  as 
an  unseasonable  display  of  gravity,  when  she  shuddered  at  the 
* profanities  of  his  worldly  guests,  or  declined  being  amused  at 
their  unseemly  jokes  : her  rising  from  his  side  at  night  to  utter  a 
prayer;  her  visits,  if  allowed,  to  the  night  meetings  for  devotion 
or  to  the  hovels  of  the  poor  for  charity ; her  taking  Pecnn. 
of  a bit  of  bread  reserved  from  the  matutinal  Feast 
before  each  meal ; her  gesture  of  abhorrence  in  presence  of  idoi- 
worship ; her  frequent  use  of  the  sign  of  the  Cross  ; these  and 
other  peculiarities  might  annoy  him  not  a little,  and  in  some  of 
them  his  superstitious  fears  might  lead  him  to  suspect  a taint 
of  magic  yet,  on  the  whole,  when  he  found  that  wife  to  be 
patient,  quiet,  helpful — the  greatest  contrast  imaginable  to  the 

39  The  famous  phrase,  “ See  how  these  Christians  love  one  another,”  was 
sometimes  not  a compliment,  but  an  indecent  taunt.  See  Minut.  Fel.  Octa- 
vius. 

40  The  Grapfiti^  or  wall-scribblings,  of  Pompeii  have  shed  a light  upon 
some  peculiarities  of  the  early  Church.  See  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review  (1859). 

4*  Tertullian,  Ad  Uxor. — in  which  every  word  is  a window,  revealing  the 
secrets  of  home-life. 


330 


History  of  the  Church. 

frivolous  spouses  of  his  neighbors — there  would  be  a strong  in- 
ducement to  look  more  closely  into  the  reality  of  her  religion. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Apologists  had  to  complain  that 
there  were  husbands,  fathers,  and  masters,  to  whom  wanton  wives, 
Their  profligate  sons,  and  eye-serving  slaves  were  less  offensive. 
Virtues  not  on  the  whole,  than  Christian  inmates  in  their  houses. 

Popular.  •11*' 

From  causes  already  mentioned,  the  virtues  most  appa- 
rent among  believers  were  those  of  the  extraordinary  and  heroic 
type.  There  was  little  room  for  the  qualities  most  prized  in 
heathen  society.  Patriotism  could  not  flourish  under  the  frost 
Lack  of  of  continual  persecution.  Public  spirit  could  be  hardly 
more  than  a name,  when  to  serve  the  public  in  any 
capacity  was  to  be  implicated  in  the  sin  of  idol-wor- 
ship. Military  merit  was  much  hindered  from  a similar  cause, 
though  the  army  seems  to  have  been  regarded  with  some  favor. 

50  with  all  the  amenities  of  social  and  friendly  conviviality ; 
with  the  observance  of  holidays,  feasts,  amusements,  and  public 
or  private  entertainments.  The  peculiar  charm  which  classic 
culture  had  thrown  over  all  the  fashions  of  the  world,  was  but 
the  graceful  covering  of  a mass  of  moral  putrefaction.  Each 
flower  concealed  a serpent.  Each  grace  was  so  entwined  with 
the  tendrils  of  a wanton  polytheism  that,  to  escape  defilement, 
Christians  were  fain  to  eschew  the  king’s  meat  ” and  to  thrive 
on  the  ‘‘pulse  and  water”  of  a bare  sufficiency.  Hence,  even 
Aversion  the  arts  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  The 
to  the  Arts,  p^^j^ter  or  sculptor  who  became  a convert  to  the 
Gospel,  did  so  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  professional  livelihood.  By 
degrees,  however,  there  was  a relaxation  in  this  respect.  The 
poetry  of  life,  so  closely  pruned  for  a season,  began  to  bud  forth 
again;  and,  amid  the  touching  memorials  of  the  saints  who 
slept,  the  elements  of  an  elevated,  pure,  and  intensely  Christian 
art,  began  to  settle  upon  the  Church  as  quietly  and  spontane- 

42  Military  service  was  objected  to  by  Tertullian,  Origen,  and  others,  but 
chiefly  on  account  of  the  danger  to  faith  and  pure  morals.  That  Christians 
were  quite  numerous  in  the  army  there  can  be  no  question.  Tertull.  Apolog. 

51  37>  42.  See  noU  to  Oxford  trans.  of  Tertull.  p.  184. 


331 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

ously  as  dew  upon  the  grass.  The  great-hearted  Fossor*-^  could 
not  leave  his  labor  of  love,  without  inscribing  upon  it  Christian 
some  tender  symbol,  some  edifying  parable.  The 
Cross,  the  Dove,  the  Lamb,  the  Good  Shepherd,  and,  most 
popular  of  all,  the  Ichthus^  or  Fish,  the  Ark,  the  Gourd  of 
Jonah,  the  heaven-sailing  Ship,  the  four-headed  River  of  Para- 
dise, the  Rock  smitten  by  Moses,  or  even  a few  heathen  images 
suggested  by  the  Sibylline  Books,  such  as  Orpheus  with  his  lyre 
charming  the  beasts,  marked  the  resting-places  of  those  who 
having  fallen  asleep  in  peace  awaited  the  promised  dawn  of  a 
joyful  Ressurrection.'*^  But  such  things  were  luxuries  for  the 
Catacombs.  In  controversy  with  the  heathen  and  in 

. . Serious 

the  walks  of  every-day  life,  Christians  were  rigidly  y^ews 
unaesthetic  and  utilitarian. Fashionable  festivity  was 
to  them  but  a ghastly  grin  upon  the  face  of  death.  It  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  in  the  eyes  of  that  numerous  class, 
common  to  all  ages,  who  value  present  comfort  more  than  hon- 
esty and  truth,  believers  were  looked  upon  as  a sunless  race, 
lucifuga  natioy  hateful  to  the  tares  and  penates  of  a lively  Roman 
home. 

While  nothing  was  further  from  the  mind  of  the  early  Chris- 

-♦3  The  fossores  or  delvers  were  characters  of  no  little  importance  in  the 
Roman  Church  : see  Ferret,  Aringhi,  and  others,  on  ihe  Catacombs,  On  the 
general  subject,  see  Didron’s  Christian  Icotiography, 

44  Anagram  for  IH20TS  XPI2T02  GEOT  TI02  2i2THP— Jesus  Christ 
Son  of  God  Saviour. 

45  The  Council  of  Elvira  in  Spain  (a.d.  305)  forbade  pictures  in  Churches, 
‘‘  lest  the  object  of  worship  should  be  depicted.’^  It  is  probable  from  this  that 
pictures  (as  distinguished  from  mere  symbols)  had  begun  to  be  used  in 
Churches;  though  it  was  along  time  before  they  came  into  open  and  undis- 
puted use,  even  as  ornaments.  Eusebius  speaks  of  portraits  of  Christ  and  the 
Apostles,  but  as  a matter  of  heathen  custom  only : Eccl.  H,  vii.  19. 

46  “ Flowers  were  made  to  smell,  not  to  crown  dead  bodies  with,*’  a 
Christian  is  made  to  say,  in  the  Octavius.  Tertullian  speaks  in  like  manner: 
De  Coron.  v.  Even  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  lived  in  a Church  com- 
munity already  wealthy  and  luxurious,  shows  no  indulgence  to  the  ornaments 
and  superfluities  of  life : see  Pcedagog.  passim.  In  the  burial  of  the  dead, 
however,  cost  was  not  spared. 


332  History  of  the  Church. 

tians  than  communistic  notions/^  yet  nothing  was  more  fre- 
quently reported  of  them,  whether  for  censure  or  for 

Chanties  ^ ^ 

praise,  than  that  they  had  all  things  common.'^ 
The  love-feasts,  already  mentioned,  were  associated  with  a well- 
known  maxim  of  our  Lord,^^  and  gave  the  rich  an  opportunity 
to  cheer  the  hard  lot  of  the  poor,  without  injury  to 

to  the  Poor,  r > i J 

the  sentiment  of  honest  self-respect.  “As  the  elm 
supports  the  vine,  and  is  beautified  by  it,’^  so  the  rich  were  to 
support  the  poor  in  such  a way  as  to  cherish  in  them  genial  and 
amiable  affections.  Other  objects  of  charity  were  the  confessors 
in  prison ; the  destitute  families  of  the  martyrs ; the  care  of 
to  Widows,  widows  and  orphans,  who  were  placed  under  the  par- 
Orphans,  charge  of  the  Bishops ; the  rearing  of  children 

exposed  by  their  parents  ; the  rescuing  of  a few  at  least  from 
that  vast  flood  of  uncared-for  souls  which  set  in  towards  the 
brothels,  the  bridewells,  the  galleys,  or  the  schools  of  the  glad- 
iators. Life  among  the  ancients  was  held  very  cheap  : souls 
still  cheaper.  Cato,  a model  of  domestic  virtues,  boasted  that 
he  kept  no  worn-out  slaves.  When  the  Gospel  came,  it  partly 
found,  and  in  part  created,  a more  humane  feeling.^®  Still,  the 
abominable  treatment  of  the  familia  by  heathen  masters,  during 
this  period,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  horrible  as  were 
the  tortures  inflicted  upon  the  Martyrs,  they  were  after  all  but 
the  ordinary  punishments  of  refractory  slaves.  The  eculeus  or 

47  See  the  admirable  essay  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Chastel  on  the  Charity 
of  the  Priifiitive  Churches  : translated  by  G.  A.  Matile ; also,  C.  Schmidt, 
Essai  Historique  sur  la  Societe,  etc.,  Paris,  1853;  F.  de  Champagny,  La 
Charite  Chretienne,  etc.,  Paris,  1854;  A.  Tollemer,  (Euvres  de  Misei'icordey 
etc.,  Paris,  1853. 

48  S.  Luke,  xiv.  12;  compare  Constitute  ApostoL  ii.  28. 

49  I do  not  think  it  necessary  (with  Chastel  and  others)  to  ascribe  the 
humane  sentiments  of  Seneca,  Trajan,  Pliny,  Antonius  Pius,  and  other  ami- 
able heathens,  to  any  supposed  knowledge  of  the  Gospel.  That  old  Roman 
world  was  human,  not  diabolic.  As  such,  it  had  its  share  of  good  Samaritans, 
worthy  publicans,  and  benevolent  centurions,  a thousandfold  more  deserving 
of  praise  than  such  whited  sepulchres  as  Cato.  If  there  had  been  no  humane 
feeling,  the  humanity  of  the  Gospel  would  not  have  been  appreciated. 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 


333 


Slaves. 


rack  was  an  almost  necessary  implement  in  a heathen  home. 
Now  the  Church,  by  inculcating  a true  religious 
equality  of  men  in  all  conditions,  and  by  putting  her 
anathema  upon  such  cruelties,  for  example,  as  the  selling  of 
slaves  to  gladiatorial  schools,  did  much  towards  remedying  the 
worst  and  most  inveterate  evils  of  the  system.  Indiscriminate 
manumission  she  could  not  encourage  : indeed,  she  Manu^ 
was  obliged  to  forbid  it,  except  where  there  was  a rea- 
sonable  prospect  to  the  freedman  of  an  honest  livelihood,  or 
where  the  manumitter  engaged  to  be  his  patron  or  protector. 5° 
For  it  was  not  the  least  among  the  cruelties  of  the  times,  that 
masters  often  freed  their  servants  to  escape  the  burden  of  their 
support ; thus  adding  to  that  rabble  of  famished  wolves  by 
which  the  great  cities  were  infested.  The  redemption  other 
of  captives  was  another  channel  of  benevolence.  So  o/^BlTevL 
with  the  struggle  against  the  famines  and  pestilences 
by  which  the  ancient  world  was  so  frequently  desolated.  So, 
again,  with  the  burial  of  the  dead  ; which  being  sadly  neglected 
by  the  heathen,  the  Church  had  to  bear  more  than  a double 
burden. 

To  meet  these  and  similar  claims  required,  on  the  part  of  the 
Church,  an  almost  boundless  liberality  : more  especially  as  the 
burden  was  laid  exclusively  upon  the  faithful.  But  sources 
the  supply  never  failed  to  come.  In  the  language  of 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  Charity  was  not  a cistern,  but  a well : 
the  more  it  was  drawn  from,  the  clearer,  the  sweeter,  and  the 
more  abundant  its  flow.  And  that  it  might  flow  freely,  all  fac- 
titious supplies  were  rigorously  rejected.  To  give,  was  to  com- 
municate with  the  altar  : to  be  at  variance  with  the  altar,  was  to 
lose  the  privilege  of  giving.  When  Marcion  the  heretic 
was  excommunicated,  his  liberal  donations,  amounting 
to  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  Sestertii,  were  cast  out  with 
him.5‘  In  the  same  way,  the  offerings  pro  defunctis,  namely,  the 

so  Among  the  Canons  bearing  on  the  subject  are  Ap.  Can.  82,  and  Gan- 
gran.  3.  See  also  Apostol.  Constitutions,  iv.  9.  For  much  interesting  matter 
on  this  point,  see  Chastel’s  Charity,  etc.  s*  Tertull.  Adv.  Marc.  iv.  4. 


Offerings, 


334 


History  of  the  Church. 


Three 

Objects, 


lavish  oblations  prompted  by  affectionate  remembrance  of  those 
who  slept  in  the  Lord,  were  not  accepted,  nor  was  the  name  of 
the  deceased  pronounced  in  the  prayer  pro  dormitione,  which 
formed  part  of  the  Eucharistic  Service,  unless  he  had  departed 
in  the  peace  of  the  Church. The  acceptance  of  the  gift  was 
involved  in  the  acceptableness  of  the  giver.  Hence,  not  free- 
will offerings  merely,  but  the  free-will  offerings  of  an  holy  wor- 
ship, were  the  ordinary  sources  of  revenue.  These,  given 
weekly  or  monthly,  according  to  the  ability  of  the 
giver,53  were  divided  into  three  portions, — one  for  the 
clergy,  one  for  Church  services,  one  for  charities  of  all  other 
kinds ; and  were  dealt  out  daily,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Bishop  and  Deacons,  to  these  several  objects.  It  was  one  grave 
charge  against  the  Montanist  prophets,  that  they  accepted  sal- 
aries,instead  of  trusting  each  day  to  furnish  its  own  supplies. 
They  preferred  cistern-water  to  that  which  came  fresh  from  the 
spring.  But  among  the  Catholics,  in  addition  to  the  amount 
that  flowed  in  regularly  from  the  sources  above  mentioned,  there 
were  occasional  contributions  for  particular  purposes  ; and  not 
unfrequently  it  happened  that  the  old  Pentecostal  ardor  broke 
forth  anew,  and  wealthy  converts,  on  entering  the 
Church,  or  more  especially  on  election  into  the  minis- 
try, put  their  all  into  the  sacred  treasury, and  were  content 


Free  Gifts. 


52  S.  Cyprian.  Ep.  i. ; Tertull.  De  Monogam.  lo. 

53  In  exhorting  to  liberality,  the  Church  naturally  referred  to  Pentecostal 
times,  to  Jewish  tithes,  first-fruits,  etc.,  for  the  measure  in  which  individuals 
should  give.  There  was  no  sort  of  compulsion,  however;  and  the  clergy 
were  not  allowed  to  exact  pay  for  any  special  religious  services. 

54  This  seems  to  be  the  drift  of  the  sharp  invectives  of  Apollonius,  Euseb. 
Eccl.  Hist.  V.  1 8.  The  followers  of  Theodotus  the  Byzantine  adopted  the 
same  custom.  Such  a business-like  arrangement  offended  the  religious  instinct 
at  first,  because  it  looked  too  much  like  taking  thought  for  the  morrow.  Like 
many  other  heretical  inventions,  however,  it  crept  into  the  Church,  and  stayed 
there.  See  Miinter,  Primord.  Eccles.  African,  xxii.  7. 

55  Eusebius  speaks  of  this  as  common  in  the  first  and  second  age:  iii.  37. 
In  after-times,  Cyprian  and  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  are  well-known  examples 
of  the  same  liberality. 


335 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

thenceforward  to  live  of  the  altar.  Thus  there  was  always 
enough  for  all  emergencies.  The  fountain  might  now  and  then 
choke  for  awhile  by  the  accumulations  of  worldly  prosperity ; 
but  when  persecution  came  the  obstruction  rapidly  disappeared, 
and  charity  flowed  freely  and  copiously  as  before. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  even  in  the  point  of  liberality, 
the  Primitive  Church  had  a mark  of  distinction  from  other  ages. 
Whatever  she  accomplished  in  that  way  was  done  sim- 
ply  in  faith,  and  in  the  Name  of  Christ.  There  was  the  early 

^ ' . , . , Church, 

little  or  no  help  from  that  vague  philanthropy  which, 
like  the  promised  signs  of  the  Gospel,  maybe  said  to  ‘^fol- 
low them  that  believe ' ' ; being,  in  fact,  an  accompanying  power 
of  the  Truth,  an  attendant  of  Christian  civilization  in  general, 
rather  than  a product  of  personal  belief.  In  the  first  three  cen- 
turies there  was  no  Christendom,  no  Christian  world.  There 
was  nothing  of  that  moral  atmosphere,  warmed  by  the  Gospel, 
if  not  quickened  by  it,  of  which  a far-reaching,  enlightened, 
and  scientific  benevolence — feeding  the  poor,  healing  the  sick, 
casting  out  devils  from  the  social  system,  and  doing  many  won- 
derful and  noble  works — is  a characteristic  feature.  The  Church 
and  the  world  then  were  in  deadly  antagonism.  Chris- 

° Opposition 

tianity  was,  in  fact,  the  Church  in  the  wilderness.  to  the 

-r.  t . 1 , , , , World. 

Everything  around  was  barren  and  hostile  to  her ; and 
Charity,  to  exist,  was  obliged  to  be  armed  at  all  points  in  the 
panoply  of  a simple,  uncompromising  Creed. 

On  the  whole,  the  power  of  Christianity  was  more  manifest, 
during  this  period,  than  its  softer  and  milder  traits.  It  was  not 
a time  such  as  that  described  by  the  Prophet,  when  Militant 
‘‘old  men  and  old  women could  “dwell  in  Jerusa-  ^^>^r^t. 
lem,  every  man  with  his  staff  in  his  hand  for  very  age ; or  when 


56  Mark,  xvi.  17,  18.  The  promise  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter  va.  Pente- 
costal times ; in  the  spirit  it  is  fulfilled  in  the  hospitals,  homes,  asylums,  uni- 
versities, and  other  charities  of  Christian  civilization ; also,  perhaps,  in  the 
scientific  subjection  of  the  elements  of  nature  : a power  by  which  Christendom 
is  as  far  in  advance  of  heathendom,  as  the  Apostolic  Church  with  her  miracles 
was  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which  peregrinabatur — she  was  a pilgrim.’* 


33^  History  of  the  Church. 

the  streets  of  the  city^*  could  be  ‘‘full  of  boys  and  girls  playing 
in  the  streets  thereof/*  It  was  an  era  of  Martyrs,  Confessors, 
Doctors,  Virgins,  and  Anchorets : a camp-life,  as  it  were,  hav- 
ing a glory  and  beauty  of  its  own ; a sternly  militant  age,  in 
which  a man  would  part  with  his  raiment  to  purchase  him  a 
sword,  and  in  which  the  grace  of  endurance  was  preferred  to 
virtues  more  comfortable  and  ordinarily  more  prized.  The  per- 
fect fruit  of  the  period,  its  peculiar  and  supernatural  grace,  was 
that  of  non-resistance  to  oppression.  Nor  was  this  vir- 
resistance,  ^ mere  softiiess  on  the  part  of  Christians, — a mere 
abstinence  from  riots,  insurrections,  plots,  and  rebellions.  It 
was  an  armed  watch  set  at  the  very  door  of  the  lips.  For  three 
hundred  years  there  was  a society  pervading  the  Roman  world, 
consisting  of  men  of  every  class  and  condition,  and  horribly 
oppressed,  which,  during  all  that  period,  did  not  even  talk  or 
think  resistance.57  However  the  yoke  might  gall  them,  they 
simply  waited  in  quietness  and  confidence  till  the  Hand  that 
had  put  it  on  them  should  graciously  take  it  off. 

And  this  quiet  persistence  was  undoubtedly  the  secret  of 
Patient  Strength.  There  were,  as  we  have  seen,  corrup- 

Continu-  tions  amoug  the  early  Christians,  abuses,  follies,  super- 
stitions.  Scandals,  perhaps,  were  almost  as  numerous 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  believers  as  in  any  other  age. 

57 « How  often  do  ye  spend  your  fury  on  the  Christians  ...  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws ! How  often  doth  the  hostile  mob  attack  us  . . . with 
stones  and  fire ! With  the  very  frenzy  of  Bacchanals,  they  spare  not  the 
Christians  even  when  dead.  . . . And  yet  what  retaliation  for  injury  have 
ye  ever  marked  in  men  so  banded  together,  so  bold  in  spirit  even  unto  death  ? 
— though  a single  night  might  with  a few  torches  work  out  an  ample  ven- 
geance, if  it  were  lawful  with  us  that  evil  should  be  met  by  evil.  . . . 
Would  strength  of  numbers  and  forces  be  wanting  to  us  ? ...  We  are  a 
people  of  yesterday ; yet  we  have  filled  your  cities,  islands,  castles,  towns, 
assemblies,  your  very  camp,  your  tribes,  companies,  palace,  senate,  forum ! 

. . . For  what  war  would  we  not  be  sufficient  and  ready  . . . who  so  will- 
ingly are  put  to  death?  We  could  fight  against  you  even  unarmed  and  without 
rebelling  ...  by  merely  separating  from  you  . . . and  leaving  you  to 
tremble  at  your  own  desolation  ...  a vacant  tenement  for  unclean  spirits.” 
Tertull.  Apolog.  37.  See  also  Origen.  Contra  Cels,  lib.  iii. 


337 


Church  Growth  and  Life. 

Yet,  on  the  whole,  amid  changes  going  on  all  around,  the 
Church  alone  stood  firm  and  unalterable,  witnessing  to  the  same 
Truth,  and  witnessing  in  the  same  way,  for  three  hundred  years 
of  almost  continuous  persecution.  During  all  that  period  the 
Preacher  preached,  the  Apologist  explained,  the  Martyr  died, 
the  Bishop  ruled,  the  Priest  ministered,  the  Deacon  gathered 
the  poor,  the  Exorcist  banned  the  demons,  the  Fossor  delved  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  : in  a word,  the  Church  kept  together. 
But  the  same  power  which  kept  the  Church  together,  kept  the 
Truth  together.  When  the  end  of  the  first  trial  came,  and  the 
fourth  century  opened  upon  a day  sevenfold  more  laborious  than 
any  that  had  gone  before  it,  it  found  the  mass  of  the  faithful 
through  the  world  still  united  in  one  doctrine,  one  discipline, 
one  worship,  one  spirit : a unity  the  more  amazing  that  it  was 
free  and  spontaneous,  and  accompanied  with  every  form  of  par- 
tial inconsistency  and  weakness.  Where  one  martyr  had  bled 
two  hundred  years  before,  there  were  now  hundreds  prepared  to 
bleed  for  the  same  testimony.  Now  this  persistency  could  pro- 
ceed only  from  faith.  And  faith  in  such  a connection  Living 
is  but  another  word  for  life.  In  a living  faith,  there- 
fore,  not  only  unparalleled  in  itself,  but  exhibited  under  circum- 
stances without  parallel  in  the  history  of  mankind,  we  find  the 
secret  of  the  continued  existence,  growth,  and  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity through  the  first  and  critical  era  of  its  manifestation. 

15 


338 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

TIMES  OF  DIOCLETIAN. 

The  forty  years  of  peace,  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  the 
last  chapter,  contributed  not  a little  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
Forty  years  Church  and  to  its  growth  in  point  of  numbers.  Bish- 
of  Peace.  longer  persecuted,  began  to  be  treated  by  all 

classes  with  a marked  respect.  Not  a few  Christians  served  in 
the  household  of  Diocletian,  countenanced  by  the  faith  of  Prisca 
his  wife  and  Valeria  his  daughter.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  posi- 
tion of  trust  that  was  not  open  to  them ; the  good-will  of  the 
princes  having  gone  so  far  as  to  relieve  them  from  all  necessity 
of  conformity  to  the  State  worship.  It  naturally  followed  that 
converts  came  in  by  crowds.  The  old  places  of  worship  had  to 
Prosper  enlarged.  New  churches,  spacious,  magnificent,  and 
ityand  soHd,  Were  erected  in  all  the  chief  cities.  Sacred  vessels 
of  gold  and  silver,  collections  of  sacred  books,  and 
perhaps  treasures  of  other  kinds,  began  to  accumulate  in  suffi- 
cient quantity  and  splendor  to  be  a temptation  to  the  eye  of  the 
spoiler,  and  to  add  another  to  the  many  causes  of  persecution 
that  still  existed,  though  hidden  for  the  time  by  a deceitful  show 
of  peace. 

The  usual  attendants  of  prosperity  were  not  slow  to  follow. 
Discipline  was  relaxed.  Worldliness  came  in  as  a flood.  The 
Episcopate,  reverenced  by  the  faithful  and  honored  by 

Corruption.  i ^ • r • • ^ 

infidels,  presented  itself  as  a prize  of  spiritual  ambi- 
tion.* Hence  quarrels,  intrigues,  factions;  all  the  evils,  in  short, 
with  which  the  Church  was  created  to  contend,  and  for  the  war- 


* Euseb.  viii.  i. 


Times  of  Diocletian.  339 

fare  with  which  the  long  ages  of  martyrdom  and  of  rigorous 
discipline  were  a barely  sufficient  preparation. 

What  cause  it  was  that  led  to  a change  of  policy  on  the  part 
of  the  Emperors,  has  been  somewhat  variously  stated.  It  is  only 
.known  that  the  able  and  prudent  Diocletian,  having  Two 
divided  the  burden  of  government,  first  with  the  rude  ^ndTwo 
soldier  Maximian,  whom  in  reference  to  his  own  proud 
title  of  yovius  he  surnamed  the  Herculius  of  his  admin- 
istration ; and  afterwards  with  the  two  CcesarSy  Galerius  whom 
he  stationed  as  a bulwark  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  and  Con- 
stantins similarly  set  for  the  defence  of  the  borders  of  the  Rhine ; 
and  having  strengthened  this  quadruple  scheme  by  a skilful  inter- 
lacing of  matrimonial  ties : proceeded  with  singular  success  to 
crush  the  innumerable  enemies  of  the  empire ; and  crowned  a 
long  series  of  victories  in  Britain,  Gaul,  Africa,  on  the  Rhine, 
the  Danube,  and  the  Nile,  by  the  extraordinary  glory  of  a tri- 
umph over  those  inveterate  rivals  of  Rome,  the  defiant  and  for  a 
long  course  of  years  indomitable  Persians.  He  had  thus  attained 
the  summit  of  human  glory  and  success.  The  repose 

. a.d.  303. 

of  mind  and  body  for  which  he  sighed  was  now  fairly 
within  his  reach.  Under  these  circumstances,  some  evil  genius 
— most  probably  Galerius,  who  passed  a winter  with  the  Empe- 
ror in  his  palace  at  Nicomedia  just  after  the  Persian  war* — sug- 


*L.  C.  F.  Lactantii,  De  Mortibus  Persecutorum.  Liitet.  Paris,  1748. 
The  spirited  narrative  of  this  writer  is  sharply  criticized  by  Gibbon  and  Mil- 
man  ; though  neither  of  them  deviate  from  it  in  any  material  point,  and  where 
they  do,  it  is  with  very  little  reason  or  show  of  authority.  Lactantius  was 
probably  an  African  by  birth,  a disciple  of  Arnobius,  and  an  able  rhetorician — 
“ the  Christian  Cicero.’’  Invited  by  Diocletian,  he  removed  to  Nicomedia 
some  time  before  the  persecution,  and  remained  there  probably  during  the  ten 
years.  He  was  intimate  with  the  Christian  and  other  members  of  the  imperial 
household.  On  the  whole,  he  had  greater  facilities  for  correct  information 
about  the  events  he  describes  than  commonly  fall  to  the  lot  of  contemporary 
historians.  Gibbon’s  objections  to  him, or  rather  his  insinuations,  are  : (i)  that 
he  was  an  obscure  rhetorician;  i.  e.^  a man  devoted  to  literaiy  labors, — an 
objection  that  would  apply  to  most  historians;  (2)  that  he  wrote  to  flatter  the 
pride  of  the  victorious  court, — to  which  it  is  answer  enough,  that  his  book  is 


340  History  of  the  Church. 


gested  to  his  mind  that  one  enemy  of  the  empire,  more  obstinate 
Desioms  Persians,  remained  not  only  unconquered, 

against  the  but  threatening  if  not  soon  checked  to  carry  the  whole 

Christians.  i i i /•  • rr^i  • i ^ i 

world  before  it.  This  enemy  was  the  Church.  Par- 
ticular cases  could  be  mentioned  of  a dangerous  fanaticism  in . 
this  mysterious  body.  A youth  in  Africa  of  the  name  of  Maxi- 
milian had  pleaded  scruples  of  conscience  against  serving  in  the 
Pretext  army,  and  had  undergone  death  rather  than  consent 

to  serve.  Another  Christian,  Marcellus,  a Centurion, 
had  on  a public  holiday  suddenly  thrown  away  the  ensigns  of 
his  office,  abjured  carnal  weapons,  and  refused  any  longer  to  do 
the  bidding  of  an  idolatrous  master.  He  also  suffered  death 
rather  than  submit.  Could  such  examples  be  tolerated  by  a 
sovereign  who  had  brought  all  the  world  to  his  feet  ? Could  a 
sect  be  allowed  to  flourish  and  to  hold  places  of  high  trust  in 
the  very  Palace,  which  fostered  such  ridiculous  and  rebellious 
scruples  V Galerius,  for  his  part,  had  already  answered  the  ques- 
christians  tion.  He  had  weeded  his  own  army  of  the  dangerous 
^/rointhe  ^ect.  So  also  had  Herculius,  the  valiant  leader  of  the 
Army.  West.'*  It  Only  remained  for  Jovius,  the  wise  and  vic- 
torious inspirer  of  their  counsels,  to  complete  his  great  services 
by  a triumph  which  no  one  before  him  had  been  able  to  achieve. 


dedicated,  not  to  princes,  but  to  an  humble  confessor;  (3)  that  he  is  a pas- 
sionate declaimer., — a remark  that  applies  equally  to  Tacitus,  and  to  all  histo- 
rians of  any  feeling  who  are  called  to  describe  the  deeds  of  tyrants.  The 
objections  made  to  the  authenticity  of  this  treatise,  De  Mortibus  Persecutorum^ 
are  founded  chiefly  on  a supposed  inferiority  in  point  of  style  to  the  other  works 
of  Lactantius.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  marks  of  his  style ; and  the 
less  careful  polish  may  be  owing  merely  to  the  fact  that  the  author,  when  he 
wrote,  was  more  in  earnest  than  in  some  of  his  other  essays.  On  this  and 
similar  points,  see  notes  to  the  edition  mentioned  above,  Le  Brun,  Dufresnoy^ 
and  others. 

3 These  instances  are  taken  by  Gibbon  from  the  Acta  Sincera,  Ruinart. 
In  both  cases  the  fear  of  idolatry  was  probably  the  cause  of  the  scruple,  though 
a feeling  against  the  lawfulness  of  war  was  entertained  by  some  Christians. 

+ Euseb.  viii.  4,  mentions  that  many  had  to  sacrifice  or  leave  the  army ; 
but  only  a few  here  and  there  were  put  to  death.  The  story  of  the  Theban 
legion,  which  belongs  to  this  period,  is  not  related  by  any  contemporary  writer. 


Times  of  Diocletian.  3 4 1 

and  to  leave  the  Empire  to  his  successors  a united  and  homoge- 
neous whole. 

To  suggestions  of  this  kind  many  particular  influences  were 
added.  Hierocles,5  the  philosophic  leader  of  a revived  paganism, 
did  what  he  could  for  the  cause.  So,  also,  the  mother  special 
of  Galerius,  a fanatical  devotee  of  idols.  Finally,  the  Motives. 
oracle  of  Apollo  at  Miletus  being  consulted,  the  extermination 
of  Christianity  was  declared  necessary  to  appease  the  long-offended 
gods  of  the  Empire.^  Under  such  incentives,  seconded  by  the 
innumerable  pleas  to  which  the  ears  of  princes  are  open,  Diocle- 
tian’s hesitancy  at  length  gave  way : he  decided  on  a general 
persecution,  and  appointed  a day  for  the  inauguration  of  a deci- 
sive religious  war. 

It  was  the  twenty-third  of  February,  the  feast  of  the  Roman 
god  Terminus : a day  selected,  says  Lactantius,  ut  quasi  ter- 
minus imponeretur  huic  Religioni.  A little  before  the 
dawn,  the  Praetorian  Prefect  with  a crowd  of  army  begun, 

A.D.  303. 

and  state  officers  repaired  in  a body  to  the  Church  of 
Nicomedia, — a noble  edifice  which  crowned  a commanding 
height  in  full  view  of  the  Palace,  and  in  a densely  built  quarter 
of  the  city.  The  doors  are  forced  open.  There  is  an  eager 
rush  and  fruitless  search  for  some  visible  object  of  worship. 
The  Holy  Scriptures  are  found  and  committed  to  the  flames. 
A general  pillaging  ensues.  Diocletian,  who  looked  on  from 
the  Palace,  thought  it  imprudent  to  gratify  Galerius  with  the 
spectacle  of  a conflagration  ; but  the  Praetorian  guards  being 
sent,  with  siege  instruments  of  every  description,  the  sacred 
pile,  whose  lofty  site  and  solid  structure  had  excited  the  jealous 
suspicion  of  the  heathen,  was  in  a few  hours  levelled  with  the 
ground. 

The  example  thus  set  was  an  index  of  the  scheme  of  the 

5 He  wrote  against  Christianity,  and  tried  to  prove  that  the  works  of 
Apollonius  of  Tyana  were  superior  to  those  of  Christ.  He  was  answered  by 
Eusebius  and  others.  See  Fabric.  Ltix  Evangel,  cap.  viii. 

® The  Oracle  replied  that  it  could  not  speak,  “ on  account  of  certain  right- 
eous men.”  Euseb.  Vit.  Constant,  ii.  50,  51. 


342  History  of  the  Chitrch. 

more  prudent  and  perhaps  more  clement  Diocletian.  To  de- 
Pian  stroy  the  churches  of  the  Christians,  to  seize  and  burn 
proposed,  their  holy  books,  to  break  up  their  Assemblies,  and  by 
the  strong  hand  of  power  to  prevent  their  ever  reuniting,  was 
the  plan  he  seems  to  have  proposed  to  himself.  This  example 
was  followed  even  in  those  parts  of  the  Empire  where  from  mo- 
tives of  clemency  or  secret  favor,  life  and  liberty  were  respected. 

The  next  day  came  the  expected  edict  from  the  Palace.^ 
Christians  of  every  grade  were  declared  incapable  of  any  office 
Edict  of  or  public  trust ; freemen  were  disfranchised,  slaves 
Outlawry,  forbidden  to  hope  for  freedom;  the  courts  of  law 
were  to  be  closed  against  the  whole  body ; and  whatever  they 
might  suffer,  they  could  sue  for  no  redress.  When  this  edict 
was  put  up,  a certain  Christian,  fired  with  a zeal  more  natural 
than  evangelical,®  rushed  forward  and  tore  it  down.  ‘^It  is  a 
triumph,’^  he  exclaimed,  ‘^of  the  Goths  and  Sarmatians  ! 
For  this  he  was  put  to  the  torture,  roasted  before  a slow  fire, 
and  finally  thrown  into  the  flames  ; all  which  he  endured  with 
admirable  and  heroic  patience. 

But  severe  as  this  edic»was,  it  fell  short  of  the  wishes  of  the 
pertinacious  Caesar.  He  continued  to  ply  Diocletian  with  argu- 
Paiaceset  ments  and  complaints ; and  it  served  to  give  force  to 
on  Fire.  Urgency,  that  twice  within  the  following  fortnight 

the  Palace  was  found  to  be  on  fire.  The  first  time,  according 
to  the  account  of  Constantine,^  it  was  struck  by  lightning.  The 

7 The  various  edicts  of  this  persecution  are  found  in  Euseb.  viii.  2,  3,  6, 
8,  10 ; and  De  Martyr.  Palest.  3.  Lactant.  De  Mart.  Pers.  13  et  ss.  See 
Fabric.  Lux.  Evangel,  cap.  xii. 

® Gibbon’s  sneers  at  this  and  a few  similar  cases  of  natural  though  intem- 
perate zeal  are  sharply  rebuked  by  Guizot,  and  mildly  disapproved  by  Dean 
Milman.  See  notes  to  Milman’s  Gibbon,  chap.  xvi.  Lactantius,  it  is  to  be 
observed,  praises  only  the  courage  of  the  man  viflio  destroyed  the  edict : his  act 
he  expressly  condemns.  Eusebius,  however,  seems  rather  to  approve  it : viii.  5. 

9 Constantine,  in  his  Oral.  chap,  xxv.,  mentions  the  lightning.  Lac- 
tantius mentions  two  fires,  and  attributes  them  both  to  Galerius.  Milman 
well  observes,  that  if  a Christian  fanatic  had  been  the  culprit,  he  would  have 
avowed  the  deed  and  gloried  in  it. 


Times  of  Diocletian.  343 

act,  however,  was  on  both  occasions  generally  attributed  to 
an  incendiary ; though  who  the  guilty  party  was,  no  cause 
inquiries  nor  even  tortures  could  discover.  It  was 
only  known,  that  everybody  was  examined  except  the  servants 
of  Galerius.  He,  however,  was  clamorously  indignant ; con- 
ducted the  investigations  himself  j laid  the  whole  blame  to  the 
Christians ; and  finally  left  the  Palace  in  well-feigned  alarm. 
After  his  departure  no  further  attempt  was  made. 

Diocletian  by  such  arts  was  worked  into  a fury  unworthy  of 
the  character  for  prudence  he  had  hitherto  maintained.  His 
wife  Prisca  and  his  daughter  Valeria  were  forced  to  cruelties 
sacrifice.  The  Eunuchs  of  the  Palace,  among  whom 
Dorotheus,  Gorgonius,  and  Peter,  are  particularly  mentioned  by 
Eusebius,  were  tortured  over  a slow  fire  and  at  length  put  to 
death.  The  Christians  of  Nicomedia  experienced  a similar 
treatment.  Some  were  gathered  in  companies,  without  regard 
to  age  or  sex,  and  consumed  within  a ring  of  flames.  Others, 
with  heavy  stones  attached  to  them,  were  cast  into  the  sea  and 
drowned.  To  terrify  others,  unheard-of  tortures  were  in- 
vented.'® 

There  have  been  periods  in  history  when  Christians, 
separated  from  their  kind  by  an  unnatural  asceticism,  in  an 
age  of  barbarous  manners,  or  amid  the  madness  of  similar 
revolutionary  times,  have  inflicted  similar  sufferings  ^iTother 
upon  their  fellows.  In  behalf  of  such  it  may  be 
pleaded,  that  they  insanely  believed  themselves  to  be  doing 
God  service.  Their  cruelty,  therefore,  may  be  set  down  to  the 
hallucinations  engendered  by  a solitary  life,  or  to  the  frenzy 
of  long-continued  civil  or  domestic  warfare.  No  such  excuse 
can  be  made  for  the  magistrates  of  Diocletian’s  day.  no  excuse 
They  were  husbands,  fathers,  citizens,  men  of  sagac-  M^iem, 
ity  and  experience,  living  in  an  age  of  domestic  tranquillity  and 
security,  and  votaries  of  a religion  which  made  tolerance  its 
boast.  When  we  see  such  men,  therefore,  not  only  persecuting 
a peaceable  class  of  their  fellow-creatures,  but  using  all  the  ap- 


Lactant.  De  Mort.  Pers.  xv. ; Euseb.  viii.^6. 


344 


History  of  the  Church. 

pliances  of  science  to  prolong  the  agony  and  sport  to  the  utmost 
limits  of  endurance,  we  behold  a depth  of  depravity  beyond 
which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  none  deeper  can  be  imagined.  If  any 
can  be  found,  it  is  in  the  unfeeling  profanity  which,  in  an  age 
still  more  enlightened  and  more  human,  can  palliate  such  doings 
and  coldly  take  part  with  the  oppressor  against  the  oppressed. 

It  is  beyond  the  plan  of  this  history  to  go  into  the  partic- 
ulars of  the  long  and  cruel  war  which  for  ten  years  was  carried 
General  0X1  agaiiist  the  unresisting  Christians.”  It  extended 
Account,  the  provinces,  except  the  Gauls.  There  Con- 

stantius  Chlorus  complied  with  the  wishes  of  the  elder  Sover- 
eigns so  far  as  to  demolish  the  church  buildings  : the  true 
temple,  says  Lactantius,  he  left  unmolested.  His  underlings, 
it  is  probable,  were  not  in  all  cases  equally  forbearing.  Britain, 
at  this  time,  received  its  first  baptism  in  blood  : S.  Alban,  two 
s.  Aldan,  citizens  of  Chester,  and  sundry  other  persons  in  other 
zn  Britain,  haviiig  been  put  to  death.”  In  the  rest  of  the 

provinces  believers  of  either  sex  were  burned,  drowned,  or 
slaughtered,  not  singly  but  in  crowds.  The  prisons  and  mines 
were  filled  with  confessors.  Virgins  were  ravished  or  driven 
to  the  alternative  of  suicide.  The  sacred  books  and  vessels 
Course  Were  seized  and  destroyed  : those  who  refused  to  give 
pursued.  up  Were  put  to  the  torture.  Officers  were  sta- 

tioned at  the  temples  to  force  the  people  to  sacrifice  ; and  that 
no  Christian  might  have  a chance  of  justice,  altars  were  set  up  in 
the  courts  and  in  front  of  the  tribunals,  so  that  the  judges  could 
not  be  approached  without  offering  to  idols. 

Of  the  number  that  suffered  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  a satis- 
factory account.  Basing  the  calculation  upon  nine  Episcopal 
Number  of  Martyrs  particularly  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  and 
Martyrs,  ninety-two  Martyrs  of  Palestine  commem- 

orated by  the  same  writer,  Gibbon  would  reduce  the  whole 
number  to  about  two  thousand  persons.  But  Eusebius  does  not 

In  the  8th  book  of  Eusebius,  and  in  the  work  of  Lactantius,  there  are 
details  enough  : also  in  Ruinart.  Acta  Sincera, 

Bede,  Eccl.  H.  cap.  vii. 


345 


Times  of  Diocletian. 

profess  to  give  more  than  a list  of  those  cases  which  were  known 
to  himself  or  were  particularly  edifying.  Of  the  hundreds  who 
were  barbarously  mutilated  and  condemned  to  a lingering  death 
in  prison  or  in  the  mines,  he  makes  only  a passing  mention. 
He  also  avoids  particularizing  those  whose  martyrdom  was  sullied 
in  his  opinion  by  anything  unworthy  of  so  honorable  a calling. 
Now  it  is  a well-known  fact  that  follies  and  infirmities  are  often 
accompaniments  of  heroic  self-devotion.  The  roll  of  the  Pales- 
tine Martyrs,  therefore,  is,  on  every  reasonable  suppo-  ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
sition,  only  a select  list ; and  bears  probably  the  same 
relation  to  the  whole  number  that  suffered,  as  the  names  of  offi- 
cers in  a gazette  to  the  undistinguished  victims  of  the  rank  and 
file.  The  persecution  was  undoubtedly  a mighty  effort  to  crush 
Christianity.  More  than  once  the  tyrants  boasted  that  they 
had  succeeded  in  the  attempt.’^  That  in  such  an  endeavor, 
continued  for  ten  years,  they  accomplished  nothing  more  than 
the  death  of  some  two  thousand  persons,  is  as  contrary  to  rea- 
son as  to  the  testimony  of  all  early  writers. 

In  the  meanwhile  Diocletian,  having  celebrated  his  Persian 
triumph  in  Rome  and  returned  to  Nicomedia,  came  to  the  rare 
determination  of  resigning  his  authority  and  retiring  7^^^^ 

into  the  shades  of  private  life.  A tedious  illness, 
with  an  ever-increasing  sense  of  weariness  and  disgust, 
gave  force  to  the  philosophic  reasons  which  may  have  led  to 
this  resolve.  A greater  weight  was  attributed  by  some,  and 

*3  See  B.  viii.  13;  also  Mart,  of  Pal.  ch.  13.  For  Eusebius’s  common 
way  of  giving  only  noted  examples,  see  also  viii.  6 ; iii.  33 ; v.  preface ; 
vi.  I,  etc.  That  believers  were  slaughtered  in  crowds  has  the  testimony  of 
Lactantius,  xv.,  and  Euseb.  viii.  9,  ii,  etc.  Eusebius’s  profession  (viii.  2 and 
Mart.  Palest.  12)  to  omit  particulars  both  of  calamities  and  of  follies  and 
dissensions  that  led  to  those  calamities,  is  quoted  by  Gibbon  as  evidence 
against  his  honesty ; but,  in  computing  the  number  of  Martyrs  (a  matter  upon 
which  it  bears  materially)  the  profession  is  conveniently  forgotten. 

Trophies  were  set  up  at  Clunia  in  Spain  and  elsewhere : Diocletianus 
Jovius,  Maximianus  Herculius,  . . . nomine  Christianorum  deleto  . . . 
etc. ; or,  superstitione  Christi  ubique  deleta^  cultu  Deorum  propagate,  Baron. 
Annal.  an.  304. 

15* 


346 


History  of  the  Church. 

with  no  little  probability,  to  the  ambitious  urgency  of  his  im- 
perious son-in-law,  the  Caesar  Galerius.  However  this  may  be, 
abdication  is  a dangerous  experiment  to  one  who  has  made  a 
free  use  of  absolute  power.  Diocletian  resigned  with  a show 
of  dignity.  But  it  was  with  undisguised  reluctance  that  the 
Western  Augustus  Maximian,  bound  by  a previous  oath  to  his 
colleague,  and,  as  Lactantius  suggests,'^  influenced  by  the 
threats  of  Galerius,  followed  the  extraordinary  example,  and 
retired  to  a solitude  which  he  eagerly  left  again  as  soon  as  a 
favorable  opportunity  presented. 

The  empire  of  the  world  devolved  upon  Galerius  in  the 
East,  and  Constantius  in  the  West.  To  reconstruct  the  quad- 
Poiicyof  Tuple  scheme  of  Diocletian,  it  would  have  fallen  to 
Galerius,  these  two  to  nominate  a Caesar.  Galerius 

took  the  whole  arrangement  into  his  own  hands.  By  a politic 
stroke,  in  which  the  feelings  of  the  abdicating  sovereigns  seem 
to  have  been  as  little  consulted  as  those  of  Constantius,  he  pre- 
sented to  the  army  two  ignoble  creatures  of  his  own,  under  the 
title  of  Caesars.  One  of  these,  Severus,  he  sent  to 
Italy ; where  he  stayed  long  enough  to  make  himself 
odious  by  a terrible  system  of  exactions,  but  was  soon  con- 
fronted, overwhelmed,  and  slain,  in  the  revolt  of  the  usurper 
Maxentius  the  son  of  Maximian  : which  latter  had  been  easily 
persuaded  to  resume  the  purple.  The  other,  named 
Daza  or  as  he  was  afterwards  called>  Maximin,  was 
commissioned  to  tyrannize  over  Egypt  and  Syria.  A third  prize 

*5  The  highly  probable  account  that  Lactantius  gives  of  these  transac- 
tions, is  somewhat  injured  by  his  throwing  it  (according  to  classic  precedents) 
into  a dramatic  form.  Milman  thinks  that  the  picture  drawn  by  “ the  coarse 
and  unfriendly  pencil  of  the  author  of  the  Treatise  ’’  is  inconsistent  with  “ the 
profound  subtlety  ” ascribed  to  Diocletian’s  character.  But  no  profound  sub- 
tlety is  attributed  to  him.  It  is  merely  the  commonplace  cunning  of  laying 
the  blame  of  his  cruel  actions  upon  his  counsellors  : ‘‘  qui  severitatem  suam 
aliena  invidi^  vellet  explore.”  Eutrop.  ix  26.  To  this  kind  of  character  the 
portrait  drawn  by  Lactantius  is  perfectly  true.  Indeed,  it  is  true  enough  to 
Diocletian’s  character,  even  as  softened  and  excused  by  the  skilful  pen  of 
Gibbon. 


347 


Times  of  Diocletian. 

which  Galerius  had  within  easy  reach,  and  which  he  was  reserv- 
ing for  his  old  friend  and  comrade  Licinius,  was  snatched  from 
his  eager  grasp  by  the  superior  promptitude  of  young  Constan- 
tine; the  son  of  the  Western  Emperor,  Constantins.  Escape  of 
This  young  man,  born  before  his  father  had  attained 
the  rank  of  Caesar,  and  deprived  of  all  hopes  of  the  succession 
by  the  new  matrimonial  arrangements  which  followed  that 
event, had  attached  himself  to  the  service  of  Diocletian,  and 
at  the  time  of  the  abdication  was  one  of  the  most  promising 
officers  of  the  army.  Galerius  was  aware  of  his  importance, 
and  laid  a skilful  plan  to  secure  him.  But  the  young  soldier 
was  on  the  alert.  Stealing  a march  on  the  crafty  approaches  of 
the  tyrant,  he  sped  from  Nicomedia  as  fast  as  post-horses  could 
carry  him  ; and  arrived  at  Boulogne  just  in  time  to  accompany 
his  father  on  an  expedition  to  North  Britain,  to  receive  at  York 
a dying  blessing  from  his  lips,  and  to  be  forced  by  the 

' Constantine 

not  unwelcome  violence  of  the  army  into  the  adoption  elected  by 

. tbe  A rmy. 

of  the  title  of  Augustus.  The  announcement  of  this 
was  sent,  with  many  plausible  excuses,  to  the  Eastern  Emperor. 
He  received  it  in  grim  acquiescence.  Conceding  to  Constan- 
tine, however,  only  the  secondary  title  of  Caesar,  he  conferred 
the  name  of  Augustus  on  his  favorite  Severus  : but, 

, . , . , , r 1 .1  Licinius. 

this  latter  ^oon  going  to  wreck  before  the  triumphant 
usurpation  of  Maxentius,  the  honor  finally  devolved  upon  Licin- 
ius for  whom  he  had  from  the  first  designed  it. 

Thus  the  Roman  world  was  partitioned  among  six  masters : 
Galerius,  holding  a trembling  balance  between  two  Augusti, 
Maximin  and  Licinius,  in  the  East ; and  the  old  war-  Heads, 
rior  Maximian,  nominally  respected  by  Constantine 
and  Maxentius,  in  the  West : under  all  of  whom,  except  Con- 
stantine, the  edicts  of  persecution  continued  to  be  enforced 
against  the  Christians.  But  the  number  of  oppressors  was 
rapidly  reduced  by  various  reverses. 

Constantius  divorced  Helena  the  mother  of  Constantine,  and  married 
Theodora  the  daughter  of  Maximian.  In  the  same  way,  Galerius  had  to 
marry  Valeria,  Diocletian’s  daughter. 


348  History  of  the  Church. 

In  the  East,  Galerius  giving  himself  up  to  dissolute  living, 
fell  a prey  to  that  horrible  and  loathsome  disease,  which  is 
Fearful  famous  for  having  quelled  the  pride  of  two  other  dis- 
tinguished  persecutors,  Herod  the  Great  and  Philip 
A.D.  3(1.  jj  Qf  Spain.  He  was  almost  literally  eaten  up  of 
worms."  A tumor,  badly  healed,  festered  into  a spreading 
sore,  which  became  a nest  of  innumerable  vermin  and  filled  the 
whole  Palace  at  Nicomedia  with  its  pestilential  effluvia.  In 
vain  Apollo  was  applied  to  for  relief.  Nurses  and  physicians 
could  approach  the  sick  man  only  at  the  peril  of  their  lives. 
Under  the  torture  of  this  fearful  plague,  his  body  visibly  cor- 
rupting from  day  to  day,  but  his  mind  still  struggling  with 
natural  feelings  of  remorse,  he  at  length  put  forth  an  edict  of 
toleration,  remarkable  for  its  apologetic  and  almost  penitent 
Edict  of  tone.*^  ‘‘It  had  been  his  wish,”  he  declared,  “that 
Toleration.  Christiaiis  should  be  reclaimed  from  the  folly  of 
forming  a separate  society  in  the  State,  and  should  return  to  the 
customs  of  their  fathers.  Many  had  been  put  in  peril  of  their 
lives,  some  had  been  punished  with  death.  But,  inasmuch  as 
the  greater  part  continued  obstinate  in  their  delusion,  and  were 
falling  into  a state  in  which  they  neither  worshipped  the  gods 
nor  served  the  Deity  of  the  Christians,  therefore  it  seemed  best, 
in  accordance  with  the  uniform  mildness  and  clemency  of  his 
reign,  to  grant  them  a certain  indulgence ; that  they  might 
hold  their  assemblies  as  before,  and  entreat  their  God  for  the 
safety  of  the  Emperor  and  the  State  as  well  as  for  their  own, 
that  prosperity  and  security  might  everywhere  abound.” 

In  the  contest  for  empire  between  Maximin  and  Licinius 
which  followed  the  tyrant’s  death,  this  tardy  indulgence  was 
^ . of  little  avail  to  the  Christians.  Maximin,  indeed, 

seemed  for  awhile  to  have  relented ; and,  encouraged 
by  edicts  from  him  similar  to  that  of  Galerius,  the  Christians 

*7  Lactantius  describes  it  with  a fearful  minuteness : De  Mort.  Pers, 
xxxiii. ; also  Euseb.  viii.  i6. 

Given  at  length  in  Lactantius,  xxxiv.,  and  Eusebius,  EccL  Hist,  viii. 
i6. 


Times  of  Diocletian. 


349 


A Brief 
Calm. 


came  forth  from  their  concealment  with  hymns  of  joy,  and 
resumed  the  celebration  of  their  sacred  rites.  The  treacherous 
calm  lasted  hardly  six  months.  At  a hint  from  the 
Emperor  petitions  came  in  from  the  principal  cities, 
that  measures  of  severity  might  be  resumed.  Persecution  began 
once  more,  but  in  a milder  form:  persuasion,  intimidation,  and 
punishments  short  of  death,  being  strongly  recommended. 
At  the  same  time  an  effort  was  made  to  give  greater  dignity 
to  pagan  worship.  Priests  and  high-priests,  of  decent  moral 
character  and  of  high  social  rank,  were  appointed.  A r form 
gorgeous  ceremonial  was  devised.  The  old  gods,  o^Papn 
revamped,  as  it  were,  with  new  attributes  adopted 
from  Christianity,  were  set  up  in  splendid  shrines,  and  pro- 
pitiated by  feasts  and  sacrifices  and  magical  incantations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Gospel  was  assailed  with  the  weapons 
of  ridicule.  Forged  acts  of  Pilate,""®  full  of  blasphemies  against 
Christ,  were  widely  circulated,  and  taught  to  young  weafonso/ 
persons  in  the  schools.  The  dignity  of  dying  for  the 
Faith  was  denied  to  believers.  Tortured  and  mutilated,  with 
their  eyes  put  out,  or  branded  with  other  marks  of  shame,  they 
were  hidden  away  in  dungeons  or  banished  to  the  mines.  So 
elated  was  Maximin  with  the  apparent  success  of  his  endeavors 
— the  gods  smiling  upon  him,  as  he  proclaimed,  in  teeming 
harvests,  genial  seasons,  and  in  the  unexampled  prosperity  of 
his  dominions — that  he  carried  the  religious  war  be-  conquest  of 
yond  his  own  borders  into  the  Christian  kingdom  of 
Armenia,  and  succeeded  in  establishing  the  persecution  there. 

But  his  confidence  was  soon  shaken  by  a terrible  series  of 
reverses.  First,  his  insatiable  licentiousness  inspired  universal 
execrations  : the  eunuchs,  who  scoured  the  provinces  Terrible 
for  victims  to  his  lusts,  making  the  vile  quest  more 
odious  by  gratuitous  insults  and  indignities.  Tax-gatherers  fol- 
lowed the  eunuchs,  and,  if  possible,  were  still  more  hated. 

*9  Many,  however,  were  put  to  death ; and  among  others  Peter  the  Mar- 
tyr, Bishop  of  Alexandria.  See  Euseb.  Book  IX. 

“ Euseb.  ix.  v. 


350 


History  of  the  Church. 


Then  came  a general  drought  and  an  unprecedented  famine. 
The  rich  were  reduced  to  beggary,  beggars  were  massacred  or 
drowned.  An  awful  pestilence  followed  close  upon  the  famine. 
In  the  midst  of  these  calamities  the  charity  of  believers  was 
enabled  to  shine  forth  again.  Amid  despair  and  desolation 
Charity  their  duty  to  the  sufferers  of  every  kind. 

of  the  Not  content  to  visit  and  relieve  the  sick,  they  fought 

Christians.  ...  . - , , , , t i 

With  the  street  dogs  for  the  abandoned  bodies  of  the 
dying  or  the  dead.  At  length,  Heaven  smiled  once  more  upon 
the  despairing  provinces.  Maximin,  defeated  by  Licinius,  first 
turned  his  rage  against  the  pagan  priesthood  who  had  incited 
him  to  civil  war ; then  wandered  wildly  from  place  to  place, 
attempting  to  rally  his  resources ; till  at  length  taking  poison, 
but  not  in  sufficient  quantity  to  destroy  life  at  once,  he  was 
slowly  eaten  up  by  an  internal  fire,  and  so  miserably 

Eftd  of 

Maximin^  perished.*'  Before  his  death  he  issued  a new  and 
ample  edict  of  toleration  and  redress  to  the  Chris- 
tians ; in  which  he  apologized  for  himself,  and  laid  all  the 
severities  of  the  persecution  to  the  door  of  the  officers  and 
judges. 

The  splendid  Church  of  Tyre,  demolished  during  the  perse- 
cution, but  now  rebuilt  on  its  old  site  with  greater  magnificence 
Church  of  ever,  signalized  in  one  place  the  restoration  of 

Christian  worship.  The  example  was  followed  in 
other  cities.  The  death  of  Maximin  was  not  merely  a deliver- 
ance of  the  Church ; it  was  accompanied  everywhere  with  a 
joyful  munificence,  an  uncalculating  zeal  in  restoring  her  waste 
places,  and  a promptness  of  restitution  on  the  part  of  the 
heathen,  that  showed  her  to  have  gained,  even  in  things  tem- 
poral, far  more  than  she  had  lost. 

In  Italy  and  North  Africa,  Maxentius,  the  twin  monster 
of  Maximin,”  a prodigy  of  superstition,  cruelty,  rapacity  and 

**  The  horrible  description  of  his  end  is  given  with  much  fulness  by 
Euseb.  ix.  lo. 

” Euseb.  De  Vita,  Const,  i.  33-38 ; Eccl,  Hist,  viii.  14 ; Zosim.  Hist, 
Nov,  lib.  ii. 


Times  of  Diocletian.  351 

lust,  had  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  usurpation  pretended  to 
favor  the  Christians.  Having  succeeded,  however,  in 
gaining  the  good-will  of  the  army  by  largesses  and 
flattery,  and  having  by  the  aid  of  Maximian  his 
father  baffled  all  the  efforts  of  Severus  and  Galerius,  he  gave 
himself  over  to  the  fiend  of  licentiousness,  and  became  an  ob- 
ject of  abhorrence  to  all  his  subjects  alike.  Like  Maximin  he 
indulged  in  a wantonness  of  debauchery,  which  set  all  law  and 
all  social  ties  at  defiance.  The  maid  or  matron  that  once 
attracted  his  eye,  had  no  refuge  from  dishonor  but  in  self- 
destruction.  Sophronia,  a Christian  lady,  wife  of  the  Prefect 
of  the  city,  adopted  this  mode  of  escape.  The  tyrant^s  minions 
were  ready  imitators  of  his  foul  example.  To  make  his  turpi- 
tude complete,  the  vague  religious  feeling  which  had  inclined 
him  at  one  time  to  favor  the  Church,  led  him  finally  into  a 
mire  of  the  most  grovelling  and  insane  superstitions. 

Whether  he  persecuted  directly  for  religion’s  sake,  is  Superstu 
somewhat  doubtful.  It  is  more  probable  that  the 
sufferings  of  the  Christians  under  his  reign,  were  consequences 
of  the  general  state  of  outlawry  in  which  the  edict  of  Diocletian 
had  placed  them,  rather  than  of  any  particular  hostility  on  the 
part  of  the  western  tyrant. 

The  old  chief  Maximian,  who  on  his  son’s  usurpation  had 
resumed  the  purple  and  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  had  been 
his  main  stay  in  military  affairs,  soon  found  his  alii-  jEndof 
ance  unendurable,  and  took  refuge  with  Constantine 
in  Gaul.  But  the  unhappy  old  man  was  a restless  agitator. 
Twice  detected  in  treason  against  his  host  and  son-in-law — for 
Constantine  had  married  his  daughter  Fausta,  receiving  with 
her  as  a dowry  the  coveted  title  of  Augustus — he  was  allowed 
no  other  mercy  than  that  of  ^‘free  death,”  and  perished  igno- 
miniously  by  his  own  hand. 

Maxentius  eagerly  availed  himself  of  this  as  a pretext  for  a 
quarrel.  He  hated  Constantine  intensely  ; and  when 
the  latter,  with  a zeal  more  creditable  to  his  justice 
than  to  his  humanity,  followed  up  the  death  of  his  wife’s  father 


352 


History  of  the  Church. 

by  erasing  his  titles,  and  throwing  down  his  statues,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  a display  of  filial  piety  was  considered  too  good  to  be 
neglected.  Maxentius  immediately  gave  orders,  throughout 
Italy  and  North  Africa,  to  overthrow  the  images  of  Constan- 
tine. In  the  contest  that  ensued,  the  latter  did  not  wait  to  be 
attacked.  With  a promptitude  and  energy  which  entitle  him  to  a 
high  place  among  military  leaders,  he  conducted  his  small  army 
across  the  Cottian  Alps ; routed  the  best  generals  of  Maxentius 
in  several  well-contested  fields,  and  marching  steadily  and  rapidly 
lyctory  of  towards  Rome,  finally  overwhelmed  the  usurper  in  a 

Constantine^  ' 

A.D.  312.  great  battle  under  the  walls  of  the  city.  Maxentius  was 
found  drowned  in  one  of  the  marshes  of  the  Tiber.  Before  he 
End  of  had  left  Rome  for  the  decisive  field,  he  had  taken  care 
Maxentius.  consult  the  Sibylline  Books.  On  that  day^  ran  the 
answer  of  the  prudent  oracle,  the  enemy  of  the  Romans  shall 
perish.  The  Romans  indeed  rejoiced  that  their  enemy  had 
perished ; and  the  acclamations  which  greeted  the  conqueror 
were  those  of  men  who  had  nothing  more  to  lose,  and  conse- 
quently everything  to  gain,  from  a change  of  masters.  All  this 
happened  about  a year  before  the  death  of  Maximin.  It  was 
followed  by  an  alliance  between  Constantine  and  Licinius,  and 
by  a series  of  events  in  the  East,  already  in  part  related. 

Thus  Constantine  in  the  West  and  Licinius  in  the  East, 
both  of  them  favorably  disposed  towards  the  Chris- 

Constantine  , 

and  tians,  remained  to  divide  the  Roman  world  between 

Licinius.  , . _ 

them,  or,  if  necessary,  to  contest  the  supremacy  by  a 
renewal  of  bloody  strife. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  almost  forgotten  Diocletian  had  lived 
long  enough  in  his  chosen  retreat  at  Salona,  to  taste  the  bitter 
Diocletian  ffuits  of  the  seeds  of  tyranny  he  had  sown.  Whether 
at  Salona.  troubled  himself  with  the  afflictions  of  the  Empire 
is  by  no  means  certain.  At  all  events,  no  influence  for  good 
was  allowed  him.  It  is  probable  that  he  was  soon  made  aware 
of  the  necessity  of  receiving  passively  and  in  silence  whatever 
might  befall  him. 

*3  Euseb.  Vita  Constant. ; Zosimus,  Hist.  ii. 


Times  of  Diocletian. 


353 


His 

Petition 

rejected. 


Valeria  his  daughter  had  been  given  in  marriage  to  Gale- 
rius,*^  to  whom  she  bore  no  children,  but  performed  faithfully 
the  duty  of  a mother  to  Candidianus,  his  illegitimate 
son.  On  the  death  of  the  Augustus,  the  beauty  and  wi/eand 

. .Ml  Daughter. 

wealth  of  the  widowed  Empress  proved  an  irresistible 
bait  to  the  brutal  Maximin.  But  Valeria  rejected  his  advances 
with  becoming  dignity.  She  was  therefore  sent  into  exile,  with 
her  property  confiscated,  her  reputation  blasted,  her  attendants 
subjected  to  the  torture,  and  her  female  friends  put  to  death  on 
foul  and  false  accusations.  When  tidings  of  this  came  to  Dio- 
cletian, he  ventured  to  entreat  of  the  monster  that  his  daughter 
might  be  suffered  to  share  his  retreat  at  Salona,  and  comfort  his 
last  moments.  His  humble  petition  was  in  vain.  Af- 
terwards, on  the  triumph  of  Licinius,  a gleam  of  hope, 
founded  on  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  from  that  con- 
queror to  Galerius,  induced  the  princess,  accompanied  by  her 
mother,  Prisca,  to  throw  herself  on  his  mercy  and  seek  the  pro- 
tection of  his  court.  She  was  the  more  easily  led  to  this  from 
learning  that  Candidianus  was  in  favor  there.  She  was  soon 
undeceived.  Candidianus,  as  also  Severianus,  the  son  of  Seve- 
rus,  had  imperial  blood  in  them,  and  were  therefore  put  to 
death.  Fearing  a similar  fate,  the  two  empresses  fled,  in  the 
disguise  of  peasants.  After  fifteen  months  of  wandering  from 
place  to  place,  all  Asia  the  meanwhile  resounding  with  their 
woes,  they  were  at  length  discovered  and  recognized  at  Thessa- 
lonica.  Their  doom  had  been  long  since  pronounced.  In  the 
presence  of  a great  crowd  of  people,  they  were  both  beheaded, 
and  their  bodies  thrown  into  the  sea. 

Such  was  the  sad  end  of  Diocletian’s  family.  Of  his  own 
latter  days  little  is  known  beyond  an  uncertain  rumor 
that,  maddened’^  by  the  ingratitude  and  neglect  of  all 
whom  he  had  benefited,  and  by  the  pitiable  fate  of  the 
few  who  might  be  supposed  to  have  cherished  some  affection 


His  own 
end., 

A.D.  313. 


24Lactant.  De  Mort.  Pers.  39-41. 

*5  Milman  and  Gibbon  make  light  of  the  story  of  Diocletian’s  madness. 
Eusebius  and  Lactantius  both  mention  it.  The  latter  says  that,  after  his  long 


354 


History  of  the  Church. 

for  him,  he  withdrew  from  the  troubles  of  life,  as  he  had  fled 
from  those  of  empire,  by  a voluntary  act.  His  death,  however, 
has  been  attributed  by  some  to  dropsy,  by  some  to  poison,  and 
by  others  to  a protracted  state  of  insomniay  in  which  he  was 
unable  to  take  food  or  rest.^ 


■»  

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  VICTORY  OF  CONSTANTINE. 

The  victory  of  Constantine  was  the  beginning  of  the  triumph 
of  the  Christian  Religion.  When  he  first  announced  the  bold 
plan  of  attempting  with  hardly  more  than  forty  thousand  avail- 
able soldiers,*  the  conquest  of  Italy,  defended  by  an  army  of  at 
least  four  times  the  number,  his  friends  remonstrated,  and  his 
officers  could  not  refrain  from  murmurs  of  disapprobation.®  But 
the  boldness  of  this  scheme  was  as  nothing,  compared  with  that 
which  he  was  destined  to  undertake  and  to  achieve.  It  was  no 
Constantine  i^ss  than  to  abjure  the  old  traditions  of  the  Empire, 
^Christian  identify  himself  with  an  apparently  broken  and 

certainly  unmilitary  party,  which  neither  in  his  army, 
nor  in  Italy,  nor  in  Rome,  nor  in  the  Empire  at  large,  was  of 

illness  previous  to  liis  abdication,  Ae  revived^  but  not  wholly  ; for  at  certain 
times  he  was  insane^  but  at  other  times  in  his  senses.  The  humorous  philos- 
ophy he  displayed  in  his  retirement,  and  his  famous  bon  mot,  that  no  man  who 
can  raise  his  own  cabbages  ought  to  covet  the  cares  of  empire,  are  not  incon- 
sistent with  such  intermittent  insanity.  Witty  men  are  not  necessarily  sane 
men.  ^ Lactant.  xlii. 

* Zosimus  gives  him  eighty  thousand  men  in  all ; but,  as  Gibbon  shows, 
not  more  than  half  that  number  could  have  been  spared  for  the  campaign  in 
Italy. 

* A heathen  panegyrist  says  : “ What  God,  what  present  Deity  inspired 
thee,  when  almost  all  thy  generals  not  only  murmured  in  secret,  but  opei^ 
expressed  their  fears,  against  the  advice  of  men,  against  the  warnings  of  aus- 
pices,” etc.,  etc. : “omnibus  fere  Comitibus  et  Ducibus,  non  solum  tacite  mus- 
santibus,  sed  omen  aperte  timentibus,” 


355 


The  Victory  of  Constantine, 

any  political  importance ; and  which  could  nowhere  claim  to  be 
more  than  a respectable  minority  of  the  population.  To  ascribe 
such  a venture  to  mere  political  calculation,  is  to  affirm  a greater 
wonder  than  any  of  those  recorded  in  legendary  fiction.  Nor 
can  we  set  his  conduct  to  the  account  of  any  deep  affection  for 
the  Gospel,  or  for  its  persecuted  followers.  His  life  was  hardly 
that  of  a true  Christian  man.  Indeed,  he  never  professed  to  be 
other  than  an  outside  pillar  of  the  Church  ; and  his  baptism  was 
deferred  till  just  before  his  death.  These  things  considered, 
Constantine’s  own  account^  of  the  matter  seems  more  simple 
and  more  credible  than  any  of  the  theories  which  have  been 
framed  in  explanation  of  his  extraordinary  conduct. 

3 Euseb.  De  Vit,  Constant,  i.  26-30,  36 ; Socrat.  Eccl.  Hist.  1.  2.  Lac- 
tantius  mentions  only  that  “ Constantine  was  told  in  a dream  to  put  the  sign 
on  the  arms  of  his  soldiers : ” De  Mort.  Pers.  44 ; which  is  an  addition,  not 
a contradiction,  to  the  story  as  related  by  Eusebius.  So  the  heathen  Nazarius, 
in  Panegyr.  ad  C.  14:  “It  was  bruited  all  through  the  Gauls,  that  armies 
were  seen  which  declared  they  were  divinely  sent,”  etc. : which,  again,  is  not 
a contradiction,  but  a popular  exaggeration.  Many  modern  critics,  such  as 
Milman,  Neander,  Gieseler,  Schrockh,  Manso,  ascribe  the  wonder  partly  to 
excited  imagination,  partly  to  the  appearance  of  some  brilliant  cross-like  phe- 
nomenon in  the  heavens : a mode  of  explanation  as  hard  to  understand,  and 
not  a whit  easier  to  believe,  than  the  original  simple  facts  as  related  by  Con- 
stantine. It  gives  new  names  to  things,  however,  and  has  the  merit  of  being 
thought  philosophical.  As  to  Milman’s  and  Mosheim’s  objection,  that  the 
story  presents  “the  meek  and  peaceful  Jesus”  as  “ a God  of  battles”  ; there 
is  a sufficient  answer  in  Isaiah,  xlv.  1-7.  It  is  the  Lord  who  “holds  the  right 
hand”  of  the  conqueror,  “ to  subdue  nations  before  him,”  and  to  work  deliv- 
erance for  His  people.  God  is  in  history,  and  in  the  world,  as  well  as  in 
Grace.  It  has  also  been  urged,  that  if  the  appearance  had  been  really  super- 
natural, Constantine’s  conversion  would  have  been  more  genuine  than  it  seems 
to  have  been.  But  this  is  to  mistake  the  operation  of  “ signs  and  wonders.” 
Their  utmost  effect  is  to  convince  the  mind  (as  in  the  case  of  Simon  Magus), 
not  necessarily  to  convert  the  heart.  As  to  the  particular  wonder  under  dis- 
cussion, the  position  of  the  Church  at  that  time  was  a dignus  vindice  nodus. 
Believers  everywhere  had  been  ten  years  (nay,  three  hundred  years)  ciying  to 
the  Lord  for  deliverance.  That  the  deliverance,  when  it  came,  should  be 
signalized  by  extraordinary  tokens  of  the  Hand  that  wrought  it,  seems  to  me 
a rational  as  well  as  religious  belief. 


356 


History  of  the  Church. 


His  Vision. 


From  his  father  Constantins  and  his  mother  Helena,  and 
from  his  own  observation  of  the  terrible  doom  of  those  who 
His  Course  opposed  themselves  to  the  Gospel,  he  had  imbibed 
explained.  xnuch  of  Christian  faith  as  a liberal  and  sagacious, 
but  not  scrupulous,  mind  could  be  expected  to  receive.  This 
was  not  much;  but  it  was  enough  to  make  him  ponder  the 
weakness  of  human  strength,  and  to  pray  for  the  support  of  an 
overruling  Power.  Maxentius,  under  the  same  circumstances, 
had  resorted  to  horrible  sacrifices  and  demoniacal  incantations. 
Constantine,  too  enlightened  for  such  superstitions,  could  only 
turn  with  vague  desire,  though  with  little  of  the  faith  that 
springs  from  love,  towards  the  great  Deity  whose  hand  he  rec- 
ognized in  the  startling  events  of  his  times,  the  mysterious  God 
of  the  Christians.  It  was  then,  according  to  his  own 
testimony,  that  a wonderful  vision  was  vouchsafed. 
About  midday  or  a little  after,  there  appeared  in  the  heavens, 
just  above  the  sun,  the  trophy  of  a Cross  of  light,  bearing  the 
inscription.  By  This  Conquer.  This  was  witnessed  also  by  the 
whole  army.  In  his  sleep  the  night  following,  Christ  appeared 
to  him  with  the  same  sign,  and  commanded  him  to  have  a 
standard  made  in  the  same  image,  and  to  use  it  in  all  engage- 
ments  against  his  enemies.  In  accordance  with  this 
Labarum.  jj^gtruction  the  far-famed  Labarum  was  made ; and 
when  the  conqueror  entered  Rome,  his  first  act  was  to  set  up  in 
that  proud  city  the  trophy  of  the  Cross,  surmounted  by  the 
so  often  conspicuous  afterwards  in  the  van  of  the  Roman  armies. 

The  readiness  with  which  the  Romans  acquiesced  in  this 
momentous  revolution,  is  not  less  wonderful  than  the  boldness 
and  decision  with  which  it  was  brought  about.  That 

Rome  ^ 

submits  to  zeal  for  polytheism  was  by  no  means  extinct  in  the  great 

the  Cross.  , , , , , , r • 

metropolis,  had  been  recently  shown  by  a furious  out- 
break in  vindication  of  the  honor  of  the  popular  goddess  For- ' 
tuna.  Some  soldier,  it  appears,  had  uttered  a word  depreciatory 
of  the  idol.^  It  had  required  the  utmost  efforts  of  Maxentius  to 

^Whether  this  soldier  was  a Christian  is  not  mentioned:  Losim.  Hist, 
ii.  13. 


357 


The  Victory  of  Constantine. 

put  an  end  to  the  tumult  that  ensued.  But  on  the  entrance  of 
Constantine  into  the  city,  this  zeal  for  paganism  seems  suddenly 
to  have  died  away.  Amid  a general  approbation,  a sect  never 
strong  in  numbers,  generally  disliked,  and  for  three  hundred 
years  depressed,  whose  foremost  Bishop  had  lately  been  forced 
to  act  the  part  of  groom^  in  the  imperial  stables,  is  suddenly 
elevated  to  the  height  of  power ; the  traditions  of  a thousand 
years  or  more  are  quietly  set  aside ; and  an  entirely  new  order 
of  things  is  triumphantly  initiated. 

However  all  this  may  be  explained  by  political  or  philo- 
sophic reasons,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Christians 
should  have  regarded  it  in  the  light  of  a great  deliver-  General 
ance ; a divine  intervention  the  more  welcome  that 
it  came  at  their  hour  of  utmost  need.  And  such  undoubtedly 
was  their  universal  feeling.  From  one  end  of  Christendom  to 
the  other  there  was  one  harmonious  cry : The  Lord  hath  done 
great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  rejoice  ! Even  the  cold  and 
phlegmatic  historian  of  the  period,  the  cautious  and  (if  all 
reports  be  true)  timorous  Eusebius,®  was  warmed  up  into  a glow 

5 Such  is  said  to  have  been  the  punishment  of  Pope  Marcellus : Anastas. 
Vit.  Marcell,  Eusebius  refers  to  this  or  some  similar  case  in  Mart,  of 
Palest,  xii. 

^ Eusebius,  surnamed  Pamphilus,  and  known  as  “ the  father  of  Church 
history,”  was  not  only  a man  of  great  industry  and  learning,  with  every  facility 
for  acquiring  a just  knowledge  of  the  events  he  describes,  but  singularly 
cautious,  skeptical,  without  a spark  of  the  dangerous  light  of  genius,  and  little 
in  harmony  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Born  in  Pales- 
tine about  the  year  259,  and  educated  in  the  latitudinarian  school  of  Origen 
and  his  disciples,  he  kept  within  the  pale  of  orthodoxy,  but  sympathized  with 
those  who  were  out  of  the  pale.  He  was  imprisoned  during  the  great  perse- 
cution ; but  having  been  let  off  without  scars,  he  was  both  privately  suspected 
and  publicly  accused  (on  insufficient  grounds,  however)  of  having  purchased 
his  immunity  by  dishonorable  concessions.  When  the  peace  came  he  was 
made  Bishop  of  Caesarea.  In  the  Arian  strife  he  shuffled  a little,  but  finally 
subscribed  to  the  Nicene  Creed.  He  was  a favorite  of  Constantine,  and  on 
the  deposition  of  Eustathius  of  Antioch  was  offered  that  See ; but  prudently 
declined  the  dangerous  honor.  On  the  whole,  judging  him,  not  by  the  severe 
rule  of  the  early  Church,  but  by  a charity  fifteen  hundred  years  older  and 


358  History  of  the  Church. 

of  sympathetic  feeling.  His  Panegyric  on  the  Rebuilding  of 
the  Churches  shows,  in  its  very  extravagance  of  language, 
that  the  joy  of  the  day  could  be  content  with  no  moderate 
expressions.  The  general  delight,  in  fact,  was  a sort  of  intoxi- 
cation. The  cry  was  no  longer,  We  have  heard  with  our  ears 
what  our  forefathers  have  told  us but,  As  we  have  heard  so 
have  we  seeii  in  the  city  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  in  the  city  of  our 
God.’*  The  destruction,  root  and  branch,  within  so  short  a 
space  of  time,  of  so  many  powerful  oppressors,  could  not  but 
create  a feeling  of  awe  and  admiration.  And,  happily,  this 
feeling  was  one  in  which  the  heathen  could  take  part.  They 
had  been  sufferers  with  the  Christians;  they  had  reason  to 
rejoice  with  them.  They  could  join  in  the  exulting  cry:^ 
^ Where  now  are  the  mighty  names  so  famous  among 
Joy  to  the  the  nations  ? Where  are  the  Tovii  and  Herculii,  titles 

Heathen.  *1,  -iix-x*!  i -k  ir  • • 

SO  insolently  assumed  by  Diodes  and  Maxim lan,  and 
so  pitifully  disgraced  by  their  infamous  successors?  The  Lord 

proportionately  more  indulgent,  he  was  a moderate  and  prudent,  and  (so  far 
as  we  can  judge)  a pious  and  good  man.  His  credit  as  a historian  deservedly 
stands  high.  His  prejudices  were  for  the  most  part  against  that  party,  which 
finally  proved  dominant  in  the  Church ; and  where  they  come  in,  he  has  not 
the  rhetorical  skill  to  conceal  them.  His  way  of  relating  Constantine's  vision 
and  similar  wonders,  shows  that  credulity  was  not  among  his  failings.  Gibbon 
objects  to  him,  that  in  two  places  of  his  history,  he  avows  an  intention  to  record 
only  the  transactions  that  he  deemed  creditable  to  the  Church.  Whoever  will 
read  those  passages  (Lib.  viii.  2,  and  Mart,  of  Palest.  I2)  will  see  that  he 
merely  declines  to  particularize  certain  scandals,  which,  however,  he  fully 
mentions  in  the  gross,  and  in  a way  more  damaging  on  the  whole,  than  if  he 
had  given  the  details.  His  care  to  apprise  the  reader  when  he  omits  any  facts 
of  that  kind,  is  a strong  proof  his  scrupulous  fidelity ; and  it  would  be  an  im- 
provement on  the  general  character  of  history,  if  all  historians  were  to  adopt 
the  same  rule. 

7 Lactant.  De  Mort.  Pers.  1.  lii.  The  abominable  character  of  these 
tyrants  as  described  by  the  two  Church  historians  is  fully  borne  out  by  the 
heathen  Zosimus  : Hist.  ii.  It  is  remarkable,  by  the  way,  that  Gibbon  and 
Milman,  who  take  every  opportunity  to  discredit  the  two  Church  historians 
refer  to  Zosimus — whose  fanatical  hatred  of  Christianity  leads  him  to  the  most 
absurd  statements — without  a word  of  censure  or  of  caution.  See  Gibbon,  ch. 
xvi.,  and  Milman’s  notes. 


359 


The  Victory  of  Consta7itine. 

hath  destroyed  them  and  wiped  them  from  the  earth.  It  is 
the  Lord’s  triumph,  the  victory  of  the  Lord.  He  hath  looked 
down  upon  the  earth.  His  flock,  torn  and  scattered  by  raven- 
ing wolves,  He  hath  brought  together  and  healed.  The  wicked 
beasts,  which  trampled  down  His  pastures  and  dissipated  his 
folds,  He  hath  utterly  exterminated!”  It  was,  in  fact,  a triumph 
of  humanity.  And  if  Christians  carefully  collected  the  partic- 
ulars of  the  horrible  end  of  the  oppressors,  ‘‘ lest  either  they 
should  be  forgotten,  or  lest  some  future  historian  should  corrupt 
the  truth,  by  passing  over  in  silence  their  sins  against  God,  and 
God’s  judgments  upon  them  and  if  in  this  we  can  discern  a 
little  excess  of  natural  exultation  : it  is  but  just  to  bear  Exultation 
in  mind  that  the  early  Christians  were  men  of  like  pas- 
sions  with  ourselves,  but  tried  in  a way  that  passes  our 
experience,  and  almost  our  conceptions.  The  real  wonder  is, 
that  a triumph  so  great,  so  sudden,  and  so  unexpected,  led  to 
no  acts  of  violent  reprisal.  A victory  of  such  magnitude,  and 
yet  so  little  abused,  is  nowhere  else  recorded  in  the  history  of 
mankind. 

At  the  present  day,  we  can  see  that  this  first  victory  of  Chris- 
tianity was  not  so  much  a fulfilment,  as  a type  or  earnest,  of  that 
subjection  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  which  after 

r The  Victory 

SO  many  ages  of  varied  conflict  is  still  but  a matter  of  ««  earnest 
patient  faith  and  hope.  It  was  not  the  end  of  war. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  a new  and  more  complicated  struggle. 
As,  in  the  first  victorious  stage  of  the  exodus  from  Egypt,  the 
Israelites  had  only  to  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord,”®  but  in  later  stages  were  obliged  to  use  their  own  arms; 
or,  as  in  the  conquest  of  the  seven  nations,  Jericho  the  type-city 
was  taken  without  a blow  from  man,  but,  in  the  capture  of  Ai 
and  other  places  the  People — having  corrupted  themselves  by 
taking  of  the  accursed  thing  — were  compelled  to  resort  con- 
tinually to  the  use  of  human  weapons  : so  it  has  proved  in  the 
militant  progress  of  the  Church.  The  first  great  victory  was  a 
free  gift  of  God  : a victory  of  simple  faith.  The  people  stood 
® Exod.  xiv.  13.  9josh.  vii. 


360  History  of  the  Church. 


still  and  saw  the  Lord  work.  They  quietly  waited  till  the  bul- 
warks  of  Roman  heathenism  crumbled  and  fell  before  them. 

But  since  that  time,  corrupted  more  or  less  with  the 

A Warfare  ^ r y n • 1 

0/  Mixed  wealth  of  the  first  conquest,  it  has  been  comparatively 

Elements,  /•  r • j 1 1 1 ^ 

a warfare  of  mixed  elements . human  strength,  human 
policy,  spoils  of  Ai,  snares  of  Gibeon,  and  that  root  of  all  the 
evil  ‘‘  the  Babylonish  garment,*'  concealing  as  it  were  the  Lord’s 
arm  from  view,  and  making  the  Church  almost  undistinguishable 
from  the  world. 

The  symptoms  of  this  change  were  not  slow  in  appearing. 
Almost  the  first  greeting  that  came  to  the  weak  faith,  or  to  the 
Signs  0/  a politic  calculations  of  the  victor,  was  from  a broken 
New  Era.  distracted  Christianity.  The  mad  schism  of  the 
Donatists  appealed  to  an  earthly  conqueror  to  settle  spiritual 
disputes.*®  The  most  desperate  and  bloody  wars”  that  troubled 
Constantine’s  reign  were  levied  against  him  in  the  name  of  the 
religion  he  had  adopted.  Similar  difficulties  encountered 
Licinius  in  the  East;  and,  if  he  had  any  faith,  contributed  to 
shake  it. 

This  latter  Emperor,  in  his  contest  with  Maximin  previously 
narrated,  had  inclined  to  the  Christian  cause  from  motives  sim- 
Liciniusied  those  by  which  Constantine  had  been  deter- 

^chrh-^  mined.  He  could  put  no  confidence  in  the  gods  of 
itamty.  Qalerius  and  Maxentius.  An  alliance  with  Constan- 
tine, cemented  by  a marriage  with  his  sister  Constantia,  which 
took  place  at  Milan  not  long  after  the  overthrow  of  Maxentius, 
helped  to  commit  him  more  decidedly  in  the  same  direction. 
In  addition  to  this,  he  is  said  to  have  had  a dream  just  before 


Constantine’s  edict,  on  this  occasion,  is  given  with  many  others  in 
Euseb.  Eccl.  Hist.  lib.  x. 

The  violence  of  the  Circumcelliones  and  the  religious  wars  in  Africa 
are  vividly  described  in  Milman’s  Hist,  of  Christianity^  iii.  i.  In  addition  to 
the  Donatist  trouble,  there  was  the  schism  of  Meletius,  with  the  outbreak  of 
Arianism,  quarrels  among  the  Bishops,  and  innumerable  other  troubles,  to 
shake  the  faith  of  a new  convert.  The  divine  caution,  “ Blessed  is  he  whoso- 
ever shall  not  be  offended  in  Me,”  was  never  more  needed  than  in  the  moment 
of  the  first  great  victory. 


36i 


The  Victory  of  Constantine. 


his  decisive  battle  with  Maximin,  which  induced  him  to  pray  to 
the  Most  High,  and  in  His  Name  to  cope  with  an  army  twice 
the  number  of  his  own.  However  this  may  be,  his  Edicts  o/ 
victory  was  followed  by  edicts,"  not  merely  of  tolera-  Restitution^ 
tion,  but  of  the  most  ample  restitution.  Churches, 
cemeteries,  and  property  of  all  kinds  were  to  be  restored  fully 
and  without  delay.  In  return,  Christians  were  to  pray  that  the 
Divine  favor,  already  so  signally  experienced  by  the  Emperor, 
might  be  continued  for  all  time  to  him  and  his  successors. 

The  war  that  soon  broke  out  from  the  mutual  jealousy  of  the 
two  Emperors,  put  an  end  for  the  time  being  to  this  happy  state 
of  things.*^  Constantine’s  vigor  proved  superior,  in 
two  fiercely  contested  battles,  to  the  tried  skill  and  between 
more  numerous  forces  of  his  veteran  adversary.  A Emperors^ 
hollow  peace  ensued.  The  victor  was  confirmed  in  ^ 5 
his  allegiance  to  Christianity.  The  vanquished,  sorely  galled 
by  his  defeat,  and  irritated  continually  by  the  praises  too  lavishly 
bestowed  upon  his  rival,  began  to  hate  the  cause  which  self- 
interest  alone  had  induced  him  to  take  up.  His  wrath  was 
freely  vented  upon  the  Churches  and  the  Clergy.  He  accused 
them  of  praying  for  Constantine  more  earnestly  than  for  him. 
Persecution  began  once  more  to  lower  upon  the  East.  ^ew 
The  assemblies  of  the  faithful  appeared  again  in  the 
light  of  conspiracies.  Synods  were  forbidden.  Even  the  favor- 
ite work  of  charity,  the  ministering  to  those  in  prison,  could 
be  performed  only  at  the  risk  of  sharing  the  doom  of  mal- 
efactors. In  some  places.  Churches  were  demolished.  In 
others.  Bishops  were  made  away  with  in  secret.  In  short,  Maxi- 


Lactant.  De  Mort.  Pers.  xlviii. ; Euseb.  x.  5.  The  edict  from  Milan 
had  been  drawn  up  previously  to  the  victory  over  Maximin,  but  was  not  put 
forth  in  the  East  till  after  that  event.  As  the  one  given  by  Euseb.  refers  to  a 
previous  one  not  extant,  Licinius  probably  made  some  additions  to  the  original 
drawn  up  at  Milan. 

'3  Zosimus  lays  the  blame  of  this  war  to  the  perfidy  and  ambition  of  Con- 
stantine. On  such  points  party  prejudices  were  too  strong  to  allow  us,  in  cases 
where  motives  are  concerned,  to  attach  much  weight  to  the  testimony  of  either 
heathen  or  Christian  writers. 

16 


362 


History  of  the  Church. 


min  and  Maxentius  seemed  to  have  revived  in  the  person  of  an 
old  man  more  able  than  those  tyrants,  but  not  less  cruel  or 
Second  licentious.  At  length  a breach  with  Constantine,  in 
which  the  latter  perhaps  made  zeal  for  Christianity  a 
cloak  for  his  own  ambitious  views,  accompanied  with  prodigious 
preparations  both  by  sea  and  land,  threatened  the  exhaustion  of 
what  remained  of  the  resources  of  the  Empire.  Constantine 
proved  once  more  victorious.  The  great  battle  of  Hadrianople 
shattered  the  land  forces  of  Licinius.  The  siege  and  capture 
of  Byzantium  involved  the  ruin  of  his  navy.  A vigorous  rally 
was  followed  by  an  overwhelming  defeat  at  Chrysopolis,  now 
called  Scutari ; and  the  flight  and  ignominious  sub- 

End  oj 

Licinius,  mission  of  the  tyrant,  with  his  pardon  at  the  instance 
of  Ccnstantia  his  wife,  proved  but  the  forerunners  of 
his  summary  execution,  on  such  pleas  of  state  necessity  as  a 
victorious  monarch  is  seldom  at  a loss  to  find. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Diocletian’s  policy.  After  thirty-seven 
years  of  divided  rule,  with  incalculable  losses,  horrors, 

Constantine  ^ , , . . , ^ , 

sole  and  calamities,  the  Roman  world  was  once  more  united, 
and  the  first  Christian  Emperor  reigned  with  universal 
and  undivided  sway. 

Constantine  attributed  his  victory,  as  usual,  to  the  power 
of  the  Deity  of  the  Christians.  And  this,  so  far  as  we  have  the 
means  of  judging,  was  for  awhile  at  least  the  sum  of 

He  gives  ^ 

God  the  his  religion.  His  clear  and  hardy  intellect,  thoroughly 
awake  (as  was  the  case  with  the  heathen  mind  in  gen- 
eral*^) to  a sense  of  that  awful  Nemesis  which  rules  in  the  affairs 
of  dynasties  and  nations,  had  been  led  to  identify  this  great  and 
mysterious  power  with  the  cause  of  a universally  hated  and  per- 


*4  The  reader  of  Homer,  Herodotus,  i^schylus,  and  even  Plutarch,  knows 
how  deep  and  real  was  this  belief  in  a Divine  Power  of  retribution,  sure- 
footed though  sometimes  slow,  among  the  ancient  heathen.  It  was  the  Divine 
Witness  in  the  heathen  conscience  to  the  unity  of  the  Godhead.  The  barren- 
ness of  mind  which  recognizes  no  Providence  in  History,  no  controlling 
Power,  is  peculiar  to  modern  unbelief ; and  is  conceivable  only  under  such 
circumstances  as  those  alluded  to  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  v.  4-8.  For 
some  interesting  facts  on  Constantine’s  belief,  see  Gieseler,  \ 56. 


363 


The  Victory  of  Constantine. 

secuted  sect.  He  had  in  some  way  perceived  that  the  power  of 
Divine  retribution  was  on  their  side.  Their  God  was  more 
mighty  than  the  gods  of  the  persecutors.  This  he  saw  as  a sim- 
ple fact ; and  to  that  fact  as  seen  in  the  sphere  of  political  enter- 
prise he  readily  submitted.  Having  always  believed — to  use  his 
own  expression — ‘‘  that  the  best  and  noblest  course  of  uis  Rule 
action  is,  before  anything  is  undertaken,  to  provide  as 
far  as  possible  for  a secure  result f he  watched  the  almighty 
Hand  which  was  then  shaping  the  world’s  destiny,  and  that 
Hand  he  followed  as  the  only  sufficient  pledge  of  security  and 
success. 

Such  a faith,  sometimes  degenerating  into  a mere  fatalism, 
and  sometimes  rising  to  the  height  of  a sublime  confidence  in 
God,  is  characteristic  of  all  great  instruments  of  polit-  intellectual 
ical  or  social  revolutions  ; and  is  consistent  with  gross 
ignorance  of  the  Gospel  and  gross  negligence  of  its  precepts. 
Men  of  this  kind  are  often  hard,  shrewd,  and  selfish  in  all  sec- 
ondary matters.  But  in  view  of  the  great  ends  of  their  vocation, 
they  are  unsparing  of  themselves,  enthusiastic  and  even  fanatical, 
seldom  descending  to  the  littleness  of  prudential  calculations 
on  their  own  account.  Their  private  character,  therefore,  is 
always  more  or  less  of  an  enigma.  In  the  case  of  Constantine, 
his  later  years  were  subject  to  a series  of  Divine  visitations, 
which,  so  far  as  we  may  reverentially  look  into  the  secret  pur- 
poses of  God,  seem  to  have  been  intended  to  lead  him  from  a 
political  into  a personal  knowledge  of  the  Truth ; and  which, 
we  may  charitably  hope,  were  not  without  effect.  The  Nemesis 
which  he  dreaded,  and  which  in  State  affairs  he  so  Trials  and 
carefully  propitiated,  was  allowed  to  enter  his  own 
house. Dark  crimes  and  darker  judgments  caused  his  palace 

*5  See  Gibbon’s  Decline  and  Fall,  ch.  xviii. ; Euseb.  Vit,  Constant,  iv. 
60-64.  It  is  instructive  to  contrast  the  Life  of  Constantine  by  the  courtly 
Bishop  of  Caesarea,  with  the  simple  inspired  records,  transcripts  as  it  were 
from  the  Book  of  the  recording  Angel,  of  the  lives  of  Solomon  and  David. 
Eusebius  is  all  eulogy.  We  feel,  nevertheless,  that  he  belittles  his  hero  by  his 
fulsome  praises.  On  the  other  hand,  what  dignity  of  character  beams  through 


364  History  of  the  Church. 

to  be  haunted  with  horrors  worthy  of  the  old  tragic  drama ; 

and  the  life,  which  rose  with  so  stern  a beauty  upon 
the  profligate  Roman  world,*®  went  down  amid  a 
gloom,  in  which  a late  baptism,  and  perhaps  a genuine  though 
late  repentance,  are  the  only  evidence  of  a hope  in  keeping  with 
the  faith  so  long  professed. 

But  these  are  questions  which  history  is  incompetent  to  settle. 
Constantine  was  simply  a great  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God. 
Th  T pe  gave  the  glory,  by  a firm  advocacy  of  the 

0/  a New  Gospel,  if  not  in  the  better  way  of  a consistent  Chris- 
tian life.  He  stands,  therefore,  as  not  merely  the  in- 
troducer, but  in  some  sort  the  type,  of  that  new  era  of  Church 
growth,  in  . which,  while  the  root  of  faith  remained,  its  true 
development  was  to  be  mixed,  and  almost  inextricably  entan- 
gled, with  the  weeds  and  thorns  and  tares  of  the  elements  of 
the  world.  In  him  began,  in  short,  the  great  problem  and 
enigma  of  our  modern  Christendom,  our  modern  civilization. 

the  blotted  history  of  those  ancient  Hebrew  kings ! If  Constantine’s  crimes 
and  faults  had  been  as  honestly  given  by  Eusebius,  we  should  probably  have 
found  more  to  admire  in  him  than  we  can  now  find  warrant  for.  There  is  a 
counterpoise,  however,  to  the  extravagant  eulogies  of  Eusebius,  in  the  elegant 
lampoon  (entitled  history)  of  the  fanatical  heathen  Zosimus ; Histories  Novee, 
etc. 

Among  the  virtues  conceded  to  him,  chastity  is  prominent ; among  his 
vices,  cruelty.  Considering  the  fearful  profligacy  of  the  times,  a man  in  his 
position  could  hardly  maintain  the  former  of  these,  without  falling  more  or 
less  into  the  latter. 


BOOK  IV. 


FROM  THE  OUTBREAK  OF  ARIANISM 

TO  THE 

DOWNFALL  OF  HEATHENISM. 


A.D.  319-394- 


Sook  IV 


CHAPTER  L 

ARIUS  AND  HIS  DOCTRINE. 

It  was  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  the  fourth  century  of  our  era, 
amid  the  peace  which  Constantine^ s victory  had  given 

..  . I/'ll  !• 

to  the  Church,  that  a little  spark  fell  among  the  in-  troud/e. 
flammatory  elements  of  Greek  Christianity ; and  the  ‘ ‘ 
flames  of  a new  controversy,  destined  to  burn  on  for  ages, 
spread  almost  instantaneously  from  Alexandria  into  the  rest  of 
Egypt,  Libya,  the  Upper  Thebes,  Palestine,  Syria,  and  the 
provinces  of  Asia  Minor/ 

The  evil,  it  is  said,  first  broke  out  in  the  following  manner : 
Alexander,  the  learned  successor  of  Achillas  in  the  Ariusand 
See  of  Alexandria,  whose  election  has  already  been  ^iexander, 
mentioned,®  had,  on  a certain  occasion,  assembled  his  clergy 
about  him,  for  mutual  edification  in  some  of  the  deeper  mys- 
teries of  Christian  doctrine.  The  subject  for  the  day  was  the 
Majesty  and  Unity  of  the  Sacred  Trinity.  On  this  high  theme 
the  Bishop  enlarged,  possibly  in  a style  savoring  somewhat  of  a 
fondness  for  mystical  phraseology,  more  certainly  with  a marked 

* For  sources  of  Church  History  see  Dowling’s  excellent  Introduction  to 
the  Critical  Study  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  London,  1838;  also,  Gieseler’s 
Church  History,  Smith’s  American  edition.  The  authorities  most  immedi- 
ately necessary  are  the  Greek  Ecclesiastical  Historians — Eusebius,  Socrates, 
Sozomen,  Theodoret,  Evagrius,  Philostorgius,  Theodorus  Lector — Greece  ei 
Latine,  in  iii.  Tomm.,  Cantabrig.,  1720 ; also,  the  first  five  of  these  in  English 
(somewhat  inaccurately  translated),  in  six  volumes,  Baxter  & Sons,  London. 

* P.  298. 


368 


History  of  the  Church. 


warmth  and  earnestness  of  manner : this  latter  being  inspired 
by  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  erroneous  views  on  the  sub- 
ject had  already  crept  in,  and  were  secretly  favored  by  a man, 
the  foremost  in  point  of  logical  ability,  and  the  most  influential 
in  position,  of  all  the  Alexandrine  clergy.  Arius,  the  parish 
priest  of  the  church  called  Baucalis,^  was  manifestly  aimed  at  in 
this  discourse.  He  felt  the  edge  of  the  allusion.  He  thought 
he  saw  in  it,  rnoreover,  a favorable  opportunity  to 
avows  him-  avow  himself.  The  Bishop,  in  his  zealous  assertion  of 
the  oneness  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  seemed  to  have 
confounded  the  persons  of  the  Trinity ; and  Arius,  under  cover 
of  a righteous  indignation  against  that  heresy,  might  advance 
his  own  opinions  without  rebuke.  Accordingly  he  threw  off 
his  habitual  reserve,  and  uttered  his  mind  to  the  assembled 
presbyters. 

‘‘If  the  Father,^’  he  reasoned,^  “verily  begat  the  Son,  He 
Arian  begat  must  have  been  anterior  to  Him  that  was 

Tenets.  begotten.  Once  it  must  have  been,  that  the  Father 
was,  and  the  Son  was  not.  The  Father  alone  is  unoriginate  ; the 
Son,  therefore,  must  have  been  originate;  He  must  have  had  a 
beginning.  He  must  have  come  into  being  out  of  no-being.  In 
short,  though  the  first-born  of  creation,  and  immeasurably 
exalted  as  being  alone  created  by  the  Father^  He  is  not  ^ the 
Father — in  the  sense  of  emanation,  or  issue,  or  expansion,  or 
division  of  substance — but  was  brought  into  existence  by  the 
Father’s  will,  and  is  consequently  a creature.'^ 

These  sentiments  were  met  at  first  with  murmurs  of  disap- 
probation, but  without  any  attempt  at  formal  dis- 
subjectto  cussion.  At  a later  meeting  of  the  clergy,  the  mat- 
ihange.  taken  up  more  warmly,  and  Arius  having 

repeated  his  assertions,  some  one  is  said  to  have  asked  him. 


3 Sozomen,  i.  1 5. 

4 Socrates,  History,  i.  5 ; Epistles  of  Alexander.  Arius,  and  Eusebius,  in 
Theod.  History,  i.  4-6 ; Arius’s  Thalia,  in  S.  Athan.  c.  Arian.  Orat.  ii.  9 ; 
S.  Epiphan.  Hceres.  69;  Gieseler’s  Ch.  Hist.  J 81,  n.  2,  Smith’s  Am.  ed. ; 
Newman’s  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century. 


Arius  and  his  Doctrine. 


369 


Do  you  mean,  then,  that  the  Son  is,  like  Satan,  susceptible 
of  change?*’  He  answered,  ^^The  Son,  being  begotten  and 
created,  there  is  naught  in  His  nature  to  prevent  His  chang- 
ing : but  it  is  ever  His  will  to  choose  only  good.”  This  put 
the  heresy  in  a form  which  fell  with  a great  shock  upon  the 
Church  mind ; so  that  Arius  afterwards  saw  fit  to  keep  the  state- 
ment in  the  background,^  and  by  the  majority  of  his  followers 
it  was  always  carefully  evaded. 

The  same  pressure  of  public  opinion  compelled  him,  in  like 
manner,  to  soften  other  sharp  points  of  his  doctrine.  cautious 
The  Son  is  a creature,  yet  not  as  one  of  the  creatures : 
though  once  He  was  not,  yet  He  was  begotten  before  all  times y 
There  was  an  effort,  in  other  words,  to  assign  to  the  Son  of 
God  a nature  intermediate  between  that  of  the  Creator  and  that 
of  the  creature : an  effort  which  would  never  have  been  made 
had  it  not  been  necessary  to  satisfy,  at  least  in  appearance,  the 
strong  faith  in  His  Deity  that  everywhere  prevailed  among 
Christian  people. 

The  question  being  once  fairly  opened,  the  Catholics  were 
not  slow  in  detecting  the  abuse  of  logic  by  which  the  Arian 
Arian  tenets  were  supported.  It  was  a reasoning  from  Logic, 
analogy ; but,  as  was  rightly  urged,  it  omitted  the  point  of  the 
analogy  really  applicable,  in  favor  of  a merely  secondary  and 
incidental  point.  That  a son  is  born  after  his  father  is  a rela- 
tion of  time,  applicable  to  man  because  man  is  a crea- 
ture of  time.  Such  a relation  cannot  be  applied  to  dental  mis- 
Him  who  has  His  dwelling  in  eternity.  But  that  a the^EsiZ- 
son  is  of  his  father,  begotten  in  his  image,  the  inher- 
itor  of  his  nature,  whatever  that  nature  may  be,  is  an  essential 
relation,  as  proper  to  heavenly  and  eternal,  as  to  temporal  and 
earthly,  existence.  . When  Arius,  therefore,  contended  for  the 
relation  expressed  by  the  word  after,  and  objected  to  that  which 
the  word  of  implies,  he  did  something  more  than  put  forth  a 
heresy  : he  started  a new  way  of  thinking,  which,  if  once  ad- 
mitted, would  endanger  every  article  of  the  Christian  faith, 
s See  the  Letters  of  Alexander  and  Arius,  Theod.  i.  4,  5. 


370  History  of  the  Church. 


The  same  may  be  said  of  his  more  subtle  argument,  that  the 
Son  owed  His  existence  to  the  will  of  God,  and  that 
Vimfinfo-  the  Father  must  have  been  before  He  willed  the  Son 
thereof  ^ to  be.  Such  an  assertion  would  imply  that  God  had 
a being  before  He  had  a will : which,  again,  is  an  in- 
troduction into  the  Godhead  of  the  idea  of  time — a manifest 
denial  of  the  Divine  perfection. 

Arius  had  better  ground  to  go  on,  but  availed  himself  of  it 
in  a cavilling  spirit,  when  he  diverted  the  controversy 
Ties  in  the  iuto  attacks  upon  certain  theories  current  in  the  Church, 
attacked  uot  Sanctioned,  indeed,  nor  yet  formally  condemned, 
by^Artus.  which  theologians  had  endeavored  to  bring  the 
mystery  of  the  Trinity  more  neatly  within  the  grasp  of  philo- 
sophic thought.  Such,  for  example,  were  the  ideas  of  emana- 
tion, expansion,  issue,  division,  and  the  like.^  Such,  again,  was 
the  distinction  between  the  immanent  and  the  forthgoing  Word  ; 
or,  as  otherwise  phrased,  the  Word  silent  and  the  Word  speaking. 
As  mere  analogies  or  illustrations,  efforts  to  compare  things 
spiritual  with  spiritual,  such  phrases  might  be  used  without  seri- 
ous harm  ; if  pressed  too  literally,  however,  as  they  sometimes 
were,  they  might  easily  be  perverted  into  dangerous  errors. 


^ Many  theologians  of  the  first  three  centuries  were  open  to  attack  on  this 
point;  see  Book  11.  ch.  7,  §viii.  of  this  History.  Gieseler  remarks  that  even 
the  Nicene  Creed  sanctions  the  theory  of  emanation — “ God  of  God,  Light 
of  Light,”  etc.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  in  using  such  anal- 
ogies, the  Fathers  acknowledged  their  insufficiency,  and  guarded  their  hearers 
against  understanding  them  in  any  mere  physical  sense.  Inadequate  expres- 
sion of  the  Truth  is  not  heresy : heresy  involves  both  inadequate  and  contra- 
dictory language.  Uncharitableness  or  captiousness  is  at  its  root.  For  this 
reason  S.  Athanasius — a model  of  charity  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word — in 
defending  particular  expressions  sanctioned  by  Church  use,  deemed  it  enough 
to  show  that  such  expressions  were  capable  of  a sound  meaning : for  if  they 
were  capable  of  such  a meaning,  it  were  malicious  to  interpret  them  other- 
wise. In  the  same  spirit,  S.  Alexander  (in  his  Epistle,  Theod.  i.  4)  says, 
‘‘  Terms  ....  are  not  adequate  to  express  the  Divinity  ....  of  the  Only- 
Begotten  Son.  They  were  used  by  holy  men  who  vainly  endeavored  to  clear 
up  the  mystery,  and  who  ....  informed  their  hearers  that  the  subject  was 
far  beyond  their  powers” 


Arius  and  his  Doctrine. 


371 


When  Arius,  therefore,  attacked  such  expressions,  he  gained 
the  sympathy  of  some  thoughtful  and  learned  men.  On  the 
other  hand,  some,  in  a spirit  of  blind  opposition,  looked  with 
favor  upon  everything  that  he  assailed  : an  error  which  gave 
rise  to  almost  as  many  heresies  as  can  be  traced  to  the  source  of 
Arianism  proper. 

There  was  a further  complication  arising  from  the  boldness 
of  the  arch  heretic  in  appealing  to  the  language  of  Appeal  to 
Holy  Writ,  and  from  his  artful  handling  of  those  texts 
which  affirm  either  the  Divinity  or  the  Divine  attributes  of  the 
Son  of  God. 

All  language,  of  course,  is  capable  of  a secondary  or  im- 
proper, as  well  as  of  a proper,  meaning  : it  may  be 
taken  in  a higher  or  in  a lower  sense.  Thus  when  the  and  lower 
young  man  in  the  Gospel  saluted  our  Lord  as  good 
Master,*’  he  meant  it,  no  doubt,  in  the  lower  sense  of  the  word, 
and  could,  therefore,  apply  it  to  a human  teacher ; but  it  was 
intimated  to  him  that,  in  its  proper  sense,  and  according  to  the 
fulness  of  its  meaning,  the  salutation  was  suitable  to  none  but 
God.  The  Church  acted  on  this  hint  in  her  mode  of  interpret- 
ing the  Scriptures  generally.  Terms  descriptive  of 
the  nature  or  person  of  Christ  were  taken  instinctively  SeLeJolnd 
in  their  highest  sense  and  when  these  terms  were  ' 

drawn  from  filial  or  other  human  relations,  and  were  applicable 
therefore  only  by  way  of  analogy,  the  maxim,  Man  like  God, 
not  God  like  man,”  became  the  principle  and  guide  of  inter- 
pretation. Lower  relations  are  images  of  the  higher,  not  the 
higher  of  the  lower.  Earthly  things  and  names  are  shadows 
and  figures : substance  and  reality  must  be  sought  in  heaven. 
The  Catholics,  therefore,  acknowledging  even  men  to  be  ‘^sons” 
or  images”  of  God,  and,  therefore,  in  a lower  sense,  ^^gods,” 
gave  a larger  meaning  to  such  words,  in  proportion  as,  aban- 

^ The  leading  thought  of  this  paragraph,  which  I have  given  (perhaps) 
too  concisely,  is  fully  brought  out  in  Newman’s  Arians,  etc.,  chap.  ii.  sec.  v. 
Abundant  illustration  of  it  can  be  found  in  S.  Athanasius,  Nican.  Defens. 
Oxf.  Trans  Part  i. ; Library  of  the  Fathers. 


372 


History  of  the  Church. 

doning  every  corporeal  thought,  they  ascended  in  the  scale  of 
being,®  so  that  when  they  came  up  to  the  Son,  the  Image,’* 
the}^  could  be  content  with  nothing  short  of  the  most  full,  most 
exalted,  most  spiritual  idea  the  terms  were  capable  of. 

Arius  introduced  a mode  of  interpretation  which  entirely  set 
Arian  naught  this  wholesome  rule.  He  made  the  lower 

ofintert  application  of  names  and  words  the  measure  of  the 
pretation.  meaning  of  the  higher.^  If  Christ  is  the  Son  of 
God,  so  are  angels  His  sons.  If  Christ  is  the  power  of  God, 
even  the  locusts  in  one  place  are  called  His  power.  If  the 
Father  begat  the  Son,  He  is  said  also  to  have  begotten  the  drops 
of  dew.**  This  was  to  say,  in  other  words,  that  because  the 
names  of  Christ  apply  in  a secondary  sense  to  things  earthly, 
which  are  images  of  Him  their  Creator,  therefore  they  must  be 
so  applied  to  things  heavenly  ; an  argument  as  fallacious  as  if 
one  were  to  reason  that  because  we  sometimes  call  the  sunshine 
simply  the  sun,**  therefore  the  latter  word  means  only  sun- 
shine,** even  when  we  apply  it  to  the  solar  orb. 

The  inevitable  result  of  such  corrosive  logic  was  to  void  the 
Its  neces-  Scriptures  of  all  value  as  a positive  revelation.  It  was, 
sary Result,  away  the  whole  ground  of  faith.  For 

faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  Word  of  God.** 
But  if  the  very  word  by  which  faith  in  Christ  cometh,  has  no 
primary  and  proper  application  to  Him,  but  may  equally  well 
be  interpreted  in  any  grade  of  its  lower  sense,  then  there  is  no 
sure  revelation,  no  ascertainable  truth,  and  consequensly  there 
can  be  no  rational  belief.  All  is  reduced  to  the  uncertainty  of 
opinion,  conjecture,  and  vague  interpretation. 

These  rejnarks  seem  necessary  at  this  juncture  of  Church 
History,  in  order  to  direct  attention  to  an  essential 
Its  Import,  long  departure  from  the  line  of  ortho- 

doxy, which  Arius  began,  but  which,  under  other  forms  and 
names,  continued  to  vex  the  Church  for  ages  after* 

® Niccen.  Defens.  \ 24.  9 Letter  of  Alexander,  Theod. 

i.  4.  The  invention  of  the  sophism  quoted  in  the  text  is  attributed  to  Asterius, 
though  all  the  Arians  seem  to  have  used  it.  See  Niccen.  Defens.  J 20. 


Arius  and  his  Doctrine.  373 

It  was  not,  like  many  of  the  preceding  and  accompanying 
heresies,  an  erroneous  theory  merely,  a foolish  and 

. /•  1 'T'l  Ariantsm 

vain  attempt  to  explain  the  great  mystery  of  the  1 hree  an  alien 
in  One.  It  was  an  introduction  into  the  Church  of 
an  alien  mind : an  application  to  the  creeds  and  Scriptures  of  a 
logical  instrument,  which,  without  affecting  the  form  of  either, 
could  quietly  cut  away  their  substance  and  meaning.*®  The 
controversy,  therefore,  was  eminently  a sifting  of  the  heart  and 
mind.  Forcing  men  back  from  the  letter  of  truth  to  the  spirit, 
it  brought  home  to  each  bosom  the  searching  question,  “What 
think  ye  of  Christ?  Whose  Son  is  He?**  It  was  this  which 
gave  to  the  heresy  its  Protean  facility  in  changing  shapes : it 
was  this  which  enabled  it,  under  innumerable  shifts  and  eva- 
• sions,  to  maintain  so  long  a struggle  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church.  No  strife  is  so  obstinate  as  that  in  which  the  com- 
batants, while  seeming  to  have  everything,  have  in  reality 
nothing,  in  common. 

The  person  and  character  of  the  great  heresiarch  have  come 
down  to  us  in  descriptions  in  which,  with  some  allow-  person  0/ 
ance  for  the  coloring  infused  by  hostile  fancy,  it  is^  ahus, 
easy  to  discern  a consistent  portrait.  Of  a tall  and  gaunt,  but 
not  ungainly,  figure,  a face  thin  and  sallow,  marked  by  the  lines 
of  thought,  and  an  eye  which  had  a peculiar  gleam  of  what 
some  considered  saintliness,  and  others  fanaticism  or  even  in- 
sanity, he  was  austere  in  his  habits,  and  of  a disposition  nat- 
urally melancholy  and  self-absorbed.  His  talk  is  described  as 
. sweet,  insinuating,  and  exerting  an  influence  akin  to  fascination. 
When  thoroughly  aroused,  he  spoke  as  a man  under  a spell,  and 
the  spell  communicated  itself  to  those  who  heard  him.  At 
other  times  he  was  cold  and  shy,  and  uncommunicative ; as 
ready  to  dissemble  his  opinions  as,  in  a different  frame  of  mind, 
he  was  rash  in  their  avowal.  His  enemies  describe  him  as 

S.  Athanasius  dwells  much  on  this  ; showing  that  the  Arian  mind  was 
Judaic y captious,  evasive.  See,  e.  g.,  the  Ep,  in  Defence  of  Nic.  Def  (Oxf. 
Trans,  ch.  i.).  The  Letter  of  Eusebius  (Socrat.  i.  8)  is  one  of  the  most 
subtle  specimens  of  this  kind  of  evasion. 


374  History  of  the  Church. 

excessively  ambitious,  inwardly  corroded  by  the  greed  of  pow- 
er.  On  the  contrary,  Philostorgius”  declares  that  he 
views  of  his  shrank  from  publicity  and  honor;  so  that  he  volunta- 
rily gave  place  to  Alexander  when  the  two  were  com- 
petitors for  the  Episcopal  chair.  This  latter  opinion  is  counte- 
nanced by  the  fact  that  his  prominence  in  controversy  was  only 
occasional ; while  he  soon  lost  the  leadership  of  the  heresy  that 
bore  his  name.  He  gave  it  birth  and  form : the  fostering  care 
of  it  devolved  upon  abler  and  worse  men. 

A man  of  the  general  character  above  described  may  become 
a mystic  or  a sceptic,  or  both  of  these  in  turn.  The 
ingat  early  associations  of  Arius,  at  Antioch,  in  the  school  of 
Lucian,  and  the  training  he  had  there  received  in  the 
Aristotelian  method  of  disputation,  committed  him  effectually 
to  the  line  of  scepticism.  Keen,  clever,  self-absorbed,  unim- 
aginative, and  unsympathetic;  incapable  of  regarding,  much 
more  of  appreciating,  any  other  point  of  view  than  his  own ; 
he  was  a hater  of  all  mystery  in  philosophy  and  religion : a 
feeling  aggravated,  perhaps,  but  not  justified,  by  the  decided 
tendency  in  Egypt  towards  the  opposite  extreme.  Thus  he  de- 
nied the  eternal  generation,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  incompre- 
hensible. He  did  not  reflect  that  the  creation  of  the  Son  out  of 
nothing  is  just  as  much  of  a mystery,  and  fully  as  hard  for  rea- 
son to  explain.  There  was  a similar  inconsistency  in  his  com- 
plaints against  the  Catholics  for  expressing  their  belief  in  words 
other  than  those  found  in  Scripture. 

So  far  as  he  had  any  positive  theory  of  the  Trinity,  it  cor- 
responded to  that  of  the  New  Platonic  school for  which  rea- 

**  The  work  of  Philostorgius,  the  Arian  historian,  is  preserved  in  a com- 
pendium by  Photius ; who  introduces  each  extract  with  the  cautionary  phrase, 
“ Thus  says  that  liar,’’  or,  “ that  most  impious  of  liars,  Philostorgius.” 

It  has  been  abundantly  proved  by  modern  and  ancient  writers,  that  the 
New  Platonic  Trinity,  itself  a combination  of  the  ideas  of  three  leading 
schools,  corresponds  to  the  Arian,  not  the  Catholic,  dogma.  See  De  Broglie, 
L' Eglise  et  V Empire ^ etc.,  vol.  ii.,  Eclaircissement  A. ; Newman’s  Arians 
of  the  Fourth  Cent,  chap,  i.,  sect.  iv. ; Cudworth’s  Intellect.  System,  Book  I. 
chap.  iv.  \ 36;  Brucker,  Hist.  Philos,  tom.  ii.  de  Sect.  Eclect.  ^§li.  lii. 


Arius  and  his  Doctrine. 


375 


son  he  was  taunted  with  being  a follower  of  Porphyry,  the  well- 
known  philosophic  enemy  of  Christian  truth.  At  a His  dogma 
time  when  the  Church  was  absorbing  the  broken  ranks  Platonic, 
of  the  heathen  schools,  there  was  infinite  danger  from  this  class 
of  thinkers.  The  treasures  of  Greek  learning — ‘‘  the  spoils  of  the 
Egyptians'' — might  be  used,  indeed,  to  adorn  the  Tabernacle 
of  Truth : but  they  might  with  still  greater  ease  be  converted 
into  ‘^golden  calves,"  the  symbols  of  a heathenism  more  subtle 
and  intellectual,  but  not  less  dangerous,  than  the  older  and 
grosser  forms  of  creature-worship. 

It  was,  doubtless,  an  earnest  sense  of  the  danger  in  this  di- 
rection, that  gave  such  intensity  to  the  Catholic  feeling  against 
Arianism.  Externally  considered,  the  heresy  differed  hs  tendency 
little  from  the  doctrine  commonly  received.  It  ac-  i^eathen. 
knowledged  the  Scriptures ; it  waged  no  war  against  the  order 
or  worship  of  the  Church ; no  form  of  confession  was  in  com- 
mon use  which  it  was  not  ready  to  subscribe : in  short,  it  con- 
ceded to  the  Son  of  God  all  the  practical  adoration  which  had 
been  rendered  Him  from  the  beginning.  The  faithful  felt,  nev- 
ertheless, that  even  in  this  last  point,  in  yielding  Divine  honors 
to  one  who  was  declared  to  be  a creature  only, Arius  had  taken 
a fatal  step  downward  towards  polytheism : while  his  mode  of 
arguing  and  denying,  his  shallow  and  one-sided  philosophy, 
and,  in  short,  his  whole  tone  and  temper  of  mind,  were  essen- 
tially heathenish,  infidel,  and  atheistic.  Hence  the  extreme 
bitterness  of  the  controversy  that  the  Arian  heresy  provoked. 

13 « For  it  was  fitting  that  the  redemption  should  take  place  through  none 
other  than  Him  who  is  the  Lord  by  nature,  lest  we  should  name  another  Lord^ 
and  fall  into  the  Arian  and  Greek  folly ^ See  Oxf.  Trans,  of  S.  Athanas. 
against  Arian.  pp.  129,  141,  292,  301,  303. 


376 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ARIUS,  ALEXANDER,  AND  CONSTANTINE. 

The  controversy  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter  was 
not  followed  by  any  immediate  action  on  the  Bishop^s  part. 

Arius  went  on  unmolested,  teaching  publicly  and  in 
private  the  tenets  he  had  avowed;  for  the  diffusion 
Heresy.  which  his  position  as  pastor  of  the  principal  church 
in  the  city,  as  an  authorized  preacher,  and  as  the  head,  it  would 
appear,  of  the  catechetical  school,  gave  him  every  advantage  he 
could  well  desire.  His  example  was  soon  followed  by  other 
See^a/  teachers,  such  as  Colluthus,  Carponas,  and  Sarmatas: 
Coiiuthus.  f^rst  of  whom,  in  a fit  of  indignation  at  the  toler- 
ance extended  to  ‘‘heresy,**  broke  off  from  communion  with 
the  Bishop  and  organized  a sect  called  after  their  own  name. 
The  amiable  prelate  still  temporized,  in  hopes  of  confin- 
ing the  evil  within  the  precincts  of  the  city.  He  even  held 
meetings  for  the  free  discussion  of  the  points  of  difference, 
listening  to  both  sides,*  it  is  said,  and  “applauding  sometimes 
the  one  party  and  sometimes  the  other.** 

That  an  end  came  at  length  to  this  impolitic  delay  was  due, 
in  all  probability,  to  the  counsels  of  a young  man,  a member 
of  the  household  of  Alexander,  known  at  that  time  as 
Athana-  the  Dcacon  Athanasius.  About  twenty  years  old  and 
of  a slight  and  puny  frame,  a mere  “mannikin**  as 
his  enemies*  at  a later  day  called  him,  he  had  already  given 
signs  of  a mental  and  moral  superiority  from  which  great  things 
were  expected. 

According  to  a story  that  comes  to  us  on  respectable  author- 

* Sozom.  i.  15. 

* Julian:  Epistol.  51.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  however,  speaks  of  him  •as 
angelical  in  person:  Oral,  xxi.  9. 


AriuSy  Alexander^  and  Constantine.  377 

ity,3  he  was  first  brought  to  notice  in  a singular  way.  The 

Bishop,  one  day,  saw  a group  of  children  on  the  sea- 
shore,  imitating,  in  sport,  the  rite  of  Baptism.  The 
child  Athanasius  officiated  as  Bishop.  Alexander  was  at  first 
sight  shocked ; but  so  great  was  the  seriousness  and  dignity  with 
which  the  young  ministrant  performed  the  sacred  office,  that  the 
good-natured  prelate  could  not  find  in  his  heart  to  annul  the 
act.  He  recognized  the  children  as  duly  baptized,  and  took 
their  young  leader  into  his  house  to  train  him  for  Holy 
Orders.  The  disciple  proved  worthy  of  the  confidence  of  his 
master.  Already  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Arian  troubles  he 
had  written  with  marked  ability  a Tract  against  the  Gentiles, 
and  an  Essay  on  the  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  But  the  new 
heresy  awakened  and  consecrated  all  the  energies  of  his  soul. 
He  saw  in  it  at  once  a blasphemy  against  Christ  and  a denial 
of  the  Gospel.  He  opposed  it  with  the  utmost  decision ; and  it 
was  owing  in  the  main  to  his  sagacious  and  energetic  counsels 
that  the  Church  of  Alexandria  took  at  length  a decided  stand. 
First,  Alexander  and  the  city  presbyters,  then  a provin- 
cial Synod  of  about  one  hundred  bishops  from  Egypt  condemned, 
and  Libya,  anathematized  Arius  and  his  principal  ad-  ‘ ’ 
herents.  Among  those  condemned  were  five  deacons,  six  pres- 
byters, and  two  of  episcopal  rank,  Secundus  and  Theonas. 

But  to  cut  down  a weed  after  it  has  seeded,  is  to  give  it 
additional  facilities  for  growth.  Arius,  indeed,  withdrew  from 
Alexandria,  but  he  left  busy  agents  behind  him : women 
of  all  classes,  and  especially  large  numbers  of  the  Sacred  widely 
Virgins/  having  attached  themselves  to  him  with  all  the 
ardor  of  their  sex.  He  had  emissaries,  in  like  manner,  through- 
out Egypt  and  Libya.  In  Palestine,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor,  the 
ground  had  been  prepared  for  his  doctrine  by  the  heresies  of 
the  third  century  / and  in  the  numerous  sees  held  by  Collucian- 

3Socrat.  i.  15.  The  story  presents  chronological  difficulties,  which  are 
not,  however,  altogether  insuperable:  De  Broglie,  I.  i.  ch.  iii. 

-♦Epiphanius  says  700  Virgins.  Ilceres.  Ixix,  i. 

5 Book  II.  ch.  vii.,  and  Book  III.  ch.  v.,  vi.,  of  this  History, 


378 


History  of  the  Church. 

ists,®  as  the  disciples  of  Lucian  were  called,  there  were  efficient 
co-workers  ready  to  his  hand.  Among  others,  Eusebius,  the 
Church  historian,  the  metropolitan  of  Caesarea,  lent  a 
favorable  willing  ear  to  his  plausible  complaints,  and  wrote  in 
his  behalf  to  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria.  His  cause  was 
more  earnestly  taken  up  by  another  Eusebius,  the  courtly  Bishop 
of  Nicomedia.  In  short,  Arius  could  boast,  whith  some  show  of 
reason,  that  ‘‘all  the  prelates  of  the  East,  except  such  illiterate 
men7  as  the  Bishops  of  Antioch,  Tripoli,  and  Jerusalem,’’  were 
more  or  less  favorably  disposed  towards  him. 

Where  he  could  not  insinuate  his  heresy,  he  took  care  to 
secure  sympathy  as  a victim  of  persecution.  Alexander  en- 
Letters  to  ^^^^ored  to  undo  the  mischief  by  a circular  epistle  to 
and  fro.  colleagues,  stating  the  true  grounds  of  the  quarrel. 

But  his  tardy  intervention  added  fuel  to  the  flame.  Innumer- 
able letters  passed  to  and  fro,  the  Bishop  himself,  it  is  said, 
having  written  more  than  seventy  in  the  course  of  one  month ; 
and  wherever  these  missives  fell,  they  were  carefully  gathered 
up  by  the  one  side  or  the  other,  and  kept  for  further  use  in  the 
controversy.®  As  was  natural,  the  Meletians  and  other  sects 
increased  the  confusion,  arraying  themselves  for  the  most  part 
on  the  side  of  Arius. 

What  was  vastly  more  mischievous,  the  controversy  soon 
became  popular,  and  wrangling  resounded  on  every  side.^  Shop- 
keepers discussed  the  mysteries  of  the  creed  furiously 
over  their  wares.  The  populace  railed  at  one  another 
* in  the  language  of  theology.  Households  were  divided 
on  the  question.  Whether  the  Son  was  before  he  was  begotten ; 
or  argued  in  noisy  debates  that  “Peter  and  Paul,  had  they  made 
^Theod.  i.  4,  5. 

7 “ They  will  not  admit  that  any  of  our  fellow-ministers  possess  even 

mediocrity  of  intelligence the  true  doctrines,  they  say,  have  never 

entered  the  minds  of  any  but  themselves.”  Alexander’s  letter,  Theod.  i.  4. 
This  boast  of  learning,  wit,  enlightened  views,  etc.,  marked  the  Eusebian  or 
Arian  party. 

s Socrat.  i.  6. 

pEuseb.  Pf/.  Constant,  iii.  4;  Socrat.  i.  6;  Theod.  i.  4,  6. 


Arius,  Alexander^  and  Constantine.  379 


sufficient  efforts,  might  have  attained  a filiation  equal  to  that  of 
their  Lord.'*  The  heathen  took  part  in  the  general  scandal. 
The  squabbles  of  Christians  were  mimicked  in  theatres.  It  was 
a time  of  rebuke  and  blasphemy,  from  the  blame  of  which 
neither  of  the  two  parties  was  altogether  free,  though  the 
infamy  of  ministering  directly  to  the  frivolous  temper  of  the 
crowd  seems  to  attach  chiefly  to  the  name  of  Arius.  To  make 
his  tenets  popular,  he  strung  them  together  in  loose  verses,  after 
the  manner  of  a low  comic  poet,  called  Sotades,  and  Thalia 
entitled  the  vile  production  the  Thalia — a name  com-  0/ Arius. 
monly  given  to  songs  sung  at  feasts.  He  also  wrote  hymns, 
which  he  set  to  light  ai^s,  for  millers,  for  sailors,  for  travellers 
by  land  or  by  water. 

The  Emperor  Constantine,  whose  interest  in  Church  affairs 
had  steadily  increased,  notwithstanding  the  trouble  and  annoy- 
ance he  had  experienced  from  them,  first  learned  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  East  during  his  stay  in  Nicomedia,  ^urpJs^i 
just  after  the  great  victory  over  his  rival,  Licinius.  a.d.  323. 
The  advantage  of  a first  hearing  was  on  the  side  of  the  Arians. 
Eusebius,  the  crafty  prelate  of  the  Eastern  capital,  had  written 
letters,  holden  councils,  and  made  appeals  in  all  directions,  in 
their  behalf.  Constantia,  the  Emperor's  sister  and  the  widow 
of  Licinius,  was  a devoted  follower  of  Eusebius.  Both  of  these 
had  access  to  the  court,  and  neither  of  them  was  likely  to  leave 
the  opportunity  unimproved. 

However  this  may  have  been,  the  emperor's  emotions  on 
hearing  of  the  affair  were  those  of  grief  as  a Christian,  of  dis- 
appointment and  vexation  as  a statesman.  He  had 
been  sufficiently  troubled,  he  declared,  with  the  scan-  o/the 
dais  and  confusion  of  the  Donatist  schism  in  North 
Africa;  and  when  his  efforts  had  failed  to  find  in  the  Western 
Church  a suitable  arbiter  of  that  quarrel,  he  had  confidently 
looked  towards  the  East — the  venerable  day-spring  of  religion — 
for  an  authority  which  all  parties  might  unanimously  respect. 
But  now  the  East  itself  was  in  a fever  of  excitement.  And  all 
for  what?  For  a mere  question  about  words,  as  he  understood 


38o 


History  of  the  Church. 


it ; or,  at  most,  for  mysteries  too  deep  for  man  to  scrutinize,  and 
which,  if  looked  into  at  all,  ought  to  be  kept  within  the  circle 
of  the  learned  and  prudent  few. 

Such  was  the  feeling  of  Constantine,  and  such  the  tenor  of 
his  letter  to  Arius  and  Alexander.”  For  in  an  appeal  full  of 
earnestness,  and  showing  every  mark  of  good  sense  ex- 

His  Letter  . • i i i t 

on  the  sub-  cept  pertinence  to  the  cause  at  issue,  he  condescended 
to  write  to  the  two  himself;  putting  the  blame  of  the 
quarrel  with  equal  hand  on  both;  complaining  that  they  had 
robbed  him  of  his  sleep  and  of  all  joy  in  life ; and  urging  them 
for  the  Church's  sake,  for  the  furtherance  of  unity,  for  the 
tranquillity  of  the  empire,  and  finally,  out  of  respect  to  his  own 
peace  of  mind,  to  put  an  end  to  the  scandal,  to  compromise  the 
difference,  imitating  therein  the  example  of  the  heathen  philo- 
sophic schools ; and,  in  short,  if  all  could  not  see  alike,  yet  to 
preserve  at  least  decorum,  with  the  continuance  of  kindly  feeling 
and  mutual  respect. 

With  his  letter  he  sent  a special  mediator ; in  the  selection 
of  whom  he  showed  a thoughtful  impartiality,  passing  over 
He  sends  a Eusebius  and  other  eminent  Eastern  prelates  in  favor 
Mediator,  ^ Western  man,  a Spaniard,  to  whom  the  subtleties 
of  the  Greek  tongue  and  of  Greek  controversy  were  almost  as 
unfamiliar  as  to  the  emperor  himself. 

It  was  Hosius  of  Cordova,  a favorite  of  Constantine  from 
the  time  of  his  conversion;  a ^‘sober-minded " man,  “widely 
„ . , known"  as  such  even  among  those  who  differed  from 

Hosius  of  o 

Cordova,  opinion.”  His  dignity  of  character  was  adorned 

by  great  wealth,  his  wealth  was  ennobled  by  boundless  liberality. 
A confessor  in  the  great  persecution,  he  had  taken  part  in 


This  letter  was  manifestly  written  under  Arian  inspiration.  Socrat.  i.  7 ; 
Euseb.  Vtt.  Constant,  ii.  63-73. 

“ Eusebius  and  Athanasius  alike  sound  the  praises  of  Hosius : of  all  the 
prelates  at  Nicsea  he  is  the  only  one  that  Eusebius  mentions  with  commenda- 
tion ; of  the  400  whom  Athanasius  counted  among  his  allies  Hosius  the  Great 
is  the  only  one  named.  Euseb.  Vit.  Const,  ii.  63;  iii.  7.  S.  Athan.  Apolog, 
de  Fuga^  p.  703;  ad  Solitar.  pp.  827,  837,  842,  etc. 


Arius,  Alexander^  and  Constantine.  381 

numerous  councils  since  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  was 
destined  during  his  long  life  to  have  a foremost  place  in  many 
others.  He  was  famous,  in  short,  as  Hosius  the  Great ; a title 
which  he  held  till  the  hundredth  year  of  his  life,  and  which, 
though  dimmed  by  his  yielding  at  last  to  Arian  persecutions,  is 
still  accorded  to  him  for  his  eminent  services  to  the  cause  of 
Truth. 

The  result  of  his  mission  to  Alexandria”  proved  unfavorable 
to  the  Arian  cause.  The  impetuous  Colluthus  was  brought 
back  into  the  pale  of  the  Church;  the  Emperor,  learn-  Result  of 
ing  from  Hosius  the  true  state  of  things  in  Egypt  and  *nission, 
the  character  and  importance  of  the  question  at  issue,  was  com- 
mitted, for  the  time  being  at  least,  to  the  orthodox  side. 

The  cause  of  Arius  was  still  further  damaged,  in  the  imperial 
mind,  by  the  tumultuous  conduct  of  some  of  the  heretic^s  fol- 
lowers in  Egypt.  There  was  a riot,  in  which  a statue 
of  the  Emperor  was  overthrown.  With  tidings  of  this  and  the 
and  similar  disorders  there  came  also  a letter  from 
Arius,  in  which  he  was  indiscreet  enough  to  boast  of  the 
number  and  power  of  his  adherents  in  Libya  Constantine  was 
exasperated  and  perhaps  alarmed.  He  refrained,  however,  from 
any  resort  to  the  weapons  of  state  persecution,  but  condescended 
to  chastise  the  audacious  Porphyrian  by  an  answer  to  his 
epistle,’^  more  remarkable  for  its  vigor  of  vituperation  than  for 
its  dignity  of  style  or  sound  exposition  of  the  faith, 

Thusi  in  less  than  five  years  the  whole  Roman  world  was  on 
fire  with  a dispute,  in  which  the  battle  with  heathenism 
was  about  to  be  fought  over  within  the  Church  itself ; Ordeai, 

and  the  Truth,  which  for  three  centuries  had  been 
tried  in  the  furnace  of  persecution,  was  to  undergo  the  more 

”Of  what  Hosius  did  in  Egypt  nothing  is  known  beyond  the  general 
result:  Baronius,  therefore,  makes  up  a little  history  (unsupported  by  author- 
ities) in  which  Hosius  figures  as  the  Pope’s  legate,  holding  a General  Council. 

*3  The  letter  is  given  in  Gelasius  Cyzicenus,  iii.,  whose  History  of  the 
Nicene  Council  can  be  found  in  Mansi  Concilia^  tom.  ii.,  or  in  Hardouin, 
tom.  i. 


382  History  of  the  Church. 

searching  ordeal  bf  an  intellectual  scrutiny,  the  most  rigid  and 
most  subtle  that  the  rationalistic  Greek  mind  could  bring  to 
bear  upon  it, 

' 


CHAPTER  III. 

GENERAL  COUNCIL  OF  NIC^EA. 

When  Constantine,  in  his  letter  to  Alexander  and  Arius,  gave 
utterance  to  a wish  that  the  Eastern  Church  should  be 
^Genf/af  Called  in  to  settle  the  great  quarrel  of  the  West,  he 
^ ’ had  evidently  in  his  mind  the  germ,  at  least,  of  the 

idea  of  an  Ecumenical  Synod.  Local  differences  could  best  be 
adjusted  by  bringing  them  face  to  face  with  the  agreement  of 
the  Church  at  large/  The  Donatist  and  Meletian  schisms,  the 
Easter  controversy  still  unsettled,  the  Novatian  heresy,  the 
Arian  strife : all  these  were  questions  in  which  the  whole 
Church  was  interested.  The  whole  Church,  then,  should  be 
put  in  a position  to  pronounce  upon  them. 

Moved  by  such  considerations,  and  led,  in  all  probability, 
by  the  advice  of  Hosius,  the  great  council-leader  of  the  age,  the 
Synod  Emperor  took  measures,  marked  by  his  usual  breadth 
called.  Qf  view,  magnificence  of  plan,  and  promptness  of  ex- 
ecution, for  the  convening  of  the  most  remarkable  assemblage 
the  world  at  any  time  had  witnessed. 

From  the  remotest  corners  of  the  empire,  and  even  from 

* In  his  letter  on  the  Council  (Theod.  i.  10),  Constantine  distinguishes 
between  following  reason  and  following  private  opinion.  By  the  former  he 
means  the  common  sense  of  the  Church ; by  the  latter,  the  judgment  of  indi- 
vidual minds. 

2 See  the  Ch.  Historians  : Eusebius,  De  Vit.  Constant. ; S.  Athanas.  de 
Decret.  Synod.  Nic.;  Gelasii  Cyzicen.  Syntagma^  etc.,  contained  in  Mansi, 
Concilia,  tom.  ii. ; Kaye,  Some  Account  of  the  C.  of  Nic.,  etc.;  De  Broglie, 
V Eglise  et  V Empire  R.,  etc.,  ii.  2,  Eclair cissement  B. 


General  Council  of  Nic^a. 


383 


Niceea, 


regions  that  lay  beyond  the  borders  of  the  Roman  world,  the 
chief  pastors  were  invited  to  come  together.  Public 
carriages  were  placed  at  their  disposal ; their  expenses 
were  to  be  met  at  the  public  charge.  The  Emperor,  with  the 
vast  resources  of  the  empire,  was  pledged  to  the  success  of  the 
undertaking.  Nicaea,  a most  ancient  and  illustrious  city,  situ- 
ated on  one  of  the  bays  of  the  Propontis,  not  far  from  the  site 
which  the  imperial  eye  had  already  singled  out  as  the  golden 
gate  of  communication  between  the  East  and  West,  was  appro- 
priately chosen  as  the  most  central  and  accessible  place  of 
meeting. 

The  Bishops  were  not  slow  in  obeying  the  imperial  summons. 
More  than  three  hundred,  known  in  later  times  as  the  mystical 
Three  Hundred  and  Eighteen, ^ are  said  to  have  assem- 
bled, each  with  an  attendant  crowd  of  presbyters,  dea- 
cons, and  other  followers.  The  greater  part  came  from  the 
Eastern  Church.  The  West  was  represented  by  Vitus  and  Vin- 
centius,  presbyter-legates  of  the  aged  Sylvester  of  Rome ; and 
by  Hosius  of  Cordova,  Caecilianus  of  Carthage,  with  others 
from  the  chief  cities  of  Italy,  Spain,  Sicily,  and  Gaul.  Two 
Barbarians  were  present,  Theophilus,  a Goth,  and  John,  a 
Persian. 

With  the  exception  of  quite  a small  circle  of  learned  pre- 
lates, chiefly /of  the  schools  of  Origen  and  Lucian,  the  clergy 
seem  to  have  been  mostly  of  that  simple  type  which  Tketr 
ages  of  persecution  had  rendered  popular.  Scars  and  character. 
mutilations  were  held  in  higher  honor  amohg  them  than  the  skill 
of  the  orator  or  dialectician. 

There  was  Paphnutius,  the  scarred  and  halting  veteran  of 


The 

cccxviii. 


3 The  count  varies  from  250  to  350.  Of  course,  in  a body  more  than  two 
months  in  session,  the  numbers  present  might  vary  from  day  to  day.  The 
number  318  was  fixed  on  from  a mystical  allusion  to  the  servants  who  fol- 
lowed Abraham  in  his  pursuit  of  the  robffer  kings : Hilar.  De  Synod.  86 ; 
Letter  of  Liberius  in  Socrat.  iv.  12.  In  Greek  numerals,  318  is  expressed  by 
the  letters  TIH,  which  may  be  interpreted  “ the  Cross  of  Jesus.’’  Hence  the 
Synod  was  called  by  the  Greeks,  the  Council  of  the  TIH. 


384  History  of  the  Chtirch. 

the  Upper  Thebais ; the  empty  socket  of  whose  eye,  extin - 
Paphnu-  giiished  in  the  great  persecution,  Constantine  de- 

tius.  lighted  to  kiss.  He  is  still  more  honorably  known  as 

the  blameless  celibate,  who,  eschewing  marriage  himself,  de- 
feated an  attempt  made  in  the  Council  to  separate  the  clergy 
from  the  society  of  their  wives.^ 

There  was  Spyridion  of  Cyprus,  a shepherd  of  souls,  a 
worker  of  miracles,  a father  of  a family,  and  a keeper  of  sheep: 

a man  of  boundless  benevolence,  moreover,  and  a 
spyrtdton.  though  kindly  reprover  of  all  forms  of  hypoc- 

risy and  affectation.  A drop  of  his  quaint  humor  fell  once 
upon  an  eloquent  but  fastidious  bishop,  who  had  thought  to  im- 
storiestoid  P^^ve  the  style  of  Scripture  by  reading  ‘‘Take  up  thy 

0/ him.  conchy'^  instead  of  the  homelier  phrase,  “Take  up  thy 

bed.*’  On  another  occasion,  certain  robbers  attempted  his  fold 
by  night,  but  were  miraculously  entrapped  and  remained  there 
in  durance  until  the  morning.  “It  is  a pity,”  said  the  saint, 
when  he  discovered  them,  “ that  you  should  watch  all  night  for 
nothing : ” so  he  gave  them  a ram  from  his  flock,  and  let  them 
go.  At  another  time,  during  a strict  fast,  when  a guest  declined 
to  partake  of  pork  on  the  plea  that  he  was  a Christian,  Spyrid- 
ion answered,  “ For  that  very  reason  you  are  bound  to  eat  what 
is  set  before  you.” 

Such  instances  may  serve  to  show  that  a reputation  for  saint- 
liness could  be  acquired  in  that  age,  without  going  into  the  ex- 
tremes of  the  ascetic  spirit.  But  there  were  many 
encratite  representatives,  in  the  Council,  of  a sterner  side  of  the 
spirit.  religion  of  the  day.  James  of  Nisibis  came  clothed, 
like  the  Baptist,  in  camel’s  hair.  Potamon,  Bishop  of  Heraclea 

+ This  story  (resting  on  the  authority  of  Socrates)  is  impugned  by  De 
Broglie  and  others,  chiefly  on  the  ground  of  its  alleged  inconsistency  with  the 
Third  Canon  of  Nic<ea,  wherein  all  women  are  forbidden  the  houses  of  the 
clergy,  except  “ a mother,  sister,  mint,  or  such  persons  as  are  beyond  suspi- 
cion.^' But  this  last  exception  confirms  the  story.  It  looks  as  if  the  Council 
would  neither  exclude  lawful  wives,  nor  yet  include  them ; which  is  just  what 
Paphnutius  seems  to  have  contended  for. 


General  Council  of  Niccea. 


385 


A lexander. 


on  the  Nile,  was  revered  as  a sympathizing  eye-witness  and  an 
eloquent  expositor  of  the  wonderful  life  of  S.  Antony. 

It  is  related  by  the  historians  Socrates  and  Sozomen,  and  is 
not  inconsistent  with  the  general  character  of  Constantine’s 
policy,  that  Acesius,  a Novatian  Bishop,  was  also  sum-  j^cesiusthe 
moned  to  the  Council  and  assented  to  its  proceedings,  ^o-v^^uan. 
He  remained  stiff  in  his  notions,  however,  with  regard  to  the 
exercise  of  the  power  of  absolution.  The  Emperor  had  the 
patience  to  argue  with  his  scruples,  but  was  at  length  forced  to 
dismiss  him  with  the  quiet  remark,  ‘^Take  a ladder,  Acesius, 
and  climb  up  to  heaven  by  yourself.” 

Of  the  intellectual  leaders,  Alexander,  by  his  position  and 
learning,  and  the  deacon  Athanasius,  by  his  logical 
ability  and  tact,  were  decidedly  foremost.  The  latter 
especially  showed  a wonderful  combination  of  talents  suited  to 
the  times.  A faultless  ascetic,  hardly  falling  short  of  the  rigor 
of  the  anchorites,  he  was  yet  thoroughly  alive  to  every  Athana- 
movement  of  the  world  around  him.  Keen,  subtle, 
rapid  in  the  action  of  hfs  mind,  he  could  seize  instantaneously 
the  real  merits  of  a question  in  dispute,  and  with  so  firm  a 
grasp  that,  while  he  declined  no  argument  and  shrunk  from  no 
excursion  to  which  he  might  be  challenged  by  an  active  and 
evasive  foe,  he  could  never  be  diverted  for  a moment  from  his 
principal  object.  He  looked  at  the  meaning  of  an  adversary 
rather  than  at  his  words.  What  was  still  more  rare,  he  laid 
little  stress  upon  the  technical  phrases  of  theology,  was  indiffer- 
ent to  theories,  and  could  not  be  beguiled  into  the  defence  of 
untenable  positions.  In  this  respect,  Marcellus  of 
Ancyra,  his  principal  ally,  and  a powerful  though 
eccentric  champion,  proved  sadly  deficient.  With  courage  and 
skill  in  abundance,  he  lacked  common-sense.  On  the  Arian 
side,  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  had  most  of  that  art 
which  holds  to  .the  letter  of  truth,  but  denies  its  ^i<^omedia. 
spirit.  Like  Athanasius,  he  had  a keen  eye  for  the  pith  of  a 
controversy,  and  could,  therefore,  afford  to  make  verbal  con- 
cessions. He  felt  the  importance  of  the  word  consubstan- 

17 


Marcellus, 


386 


History  of  the  Church. 


Heathen, 


tial,  ’ ’ as  applied  to  the  nature  of  the  Son  of  God  ; and  his  sen- 
sitiveness in  relation  to  that  word  led  the  orthodox  to  see  more 
clearly  where  their  own  strength  lay. 

In  addition  to  the  great  body  of  clergy,  innumerable  laymen 
were  attracted  to  Nicaea  by  the  double  motive  of  interest  in  the 
Laymen  at  subject  of  dispute  and  a desire  to  see  Constantine,  the 
Niccea.  hero  of  SO  many  victories,  amid  scenes  in  which  his 
extraordinary  qualities  were  likely  to  shine  forth  with  an  added 
lustre.  From  similar  motives,  many  eminent  heathen  were 
present ; rhetoricians,  sophists,  and  philosophers  of 
the  various  schools.  It  was  sport  to  these  to  entrap 
the  Christian  leaders  into  subtle  disputations.  But  the  fondness 
of  the  clergy  for  contests  of  that  kind  was  effectually  rebuked 
by  a worthy  Confessor,  who  reminded  them  that  Christ  and 
His  Apostles  did  not  teach  us  the  dialectic  art,  but  singleness 
of  mind  preserved  by  faith  with  good  works.”  It  was  probably 
the  same  sturdy  champion  who  is  said,  by  his  plain  announce- 
ment of  the  gracious  truths  of  the  Gospel,  to  have 
^her^ceZ.  Vanquished  a philosopher,  a.  Goliath  of  the  heathen 
schools,  upon  whom  other  arguments  had  been  tried 
in  vain.  Dismiss  thy  subtleties — ask  not  the  why  and  the 
wherefore — but  answer  me  simply  : dost  thou  believe  ? ’ ’ The 
philosopher,  moved,  as  he  declared,  by  an  unaccountable  im- 
pulse, confessed  himself  a believer. 

Such  stories,  of  course,  coming  down  to  us  among  the  debris 
of  Nicene  times,  are  of  no  great  value  as  matters  of  fact ; but 
serving,  as  they  do,  to  show  the  impression  left  upon 
men’s  minds  by  the  signal  event  of  that  period,  they 
cannot  be  omitted  without  loss  to  the  cause  of  truth.  They  be- 
long to  the  spirit  of  history,  if  not  to  its  letter. 

No  original  record  remains  of  the  order  of  business  in  the 
Council,  or  of  the  particulars  of  its  proceedings.  As  was  natu- 
Orderof  such  an  assemblage,  many  came  there  with 

business.  budgets  of  private  grievances  or  ambitious  projects, 
which  Constantine  disposed  of  in  the  magnificently  summary 
fashion  of  Oriental  justice.  He  appointed  a day  when  such 


Remark. 


General  Council  of  Niccsa,  387 


matters  were  to  be  brought  before  him  in  writing.*  When  the 
set  time  came,  he  received  the  memorials ; reminded  Qri^^ances 
the  parties  that  as  Christians  and  priests  they  ought  <^^sposedof. 
not  to  make  themselves  amenable  to  human  tribunals ; exhorted 
them  as  ^^gods^’  to  await  with  patience  the  righteous  judgment 
of  God ; and  finally,  having  urged  them  to  dismiss  all  thoughts 
alien  to  the  sacred  business  before  them,  he  committed  the  doc- 
uments of  mutual  crimination  to  the  flames.  He  added,  it  is 
said,  a well-meant  but  dangerous  remark,  that  if  he  were  to 
catch  a Bishop  in  the  act  of  adultery,  he  would  rather  veil  the 
crime  than  scandalize  the  Church  by  an  exposure  of  it.  These 
matters  being  thus  disposed  of,  another  day  was  set  for  the 
formal  action  of  the  Bishops  on  the  questions  for  which  they 
were  assembled. 

The  time  intervening  was  given  to  conferences  of  various 
kinds.  Arius  was  more  than  once  summoned,  and 
stated  his  opinions.  ^ The  first  hearing  showed  that 
from  that  large  body,  consisting  of  the  bulk  of  the  clergy  who 
held  the  Faith  as  a simple  tradition  handed  down  to  them  from 
the  beginning,  the  heresiarch  could  expect  no  favor.^  His  doc- 
trine was  a novelty,  and  that  was  enough  to  condemn  Arius 
it.  We  have  neither  learned  it  nor  taught  it,^’  was  refected. 
the  general  cry.  Some  even  went  so  far  as  to  stop  their  ears  in 
holy  horror.  There  were  others,  however,  who  contended 
that  former  opinions  ought  not  to  be  retained  without  examina- 
tion.” Upon  these  fell  the  burden  of  the  debate  that  fol- 
lowed; which,  it  would  appear,  was  not  merely  a 

j . . . , 11.  1 Discussions 

discussion  in  solemn  conclave,  but  a general  contro-  and 
versy  in  public  and  private  throughout  the  city : the 
clergy,  the  laity,  and  even  heathen  philosophers,  warmly  partici- 
pating in  it.  There  was  abundant  opportunity  thus  afforded  for 
honest  inquiry : an  ample  field  for  the  display  of  dialectic  skill. 


Confer- 

ences, 


5 The  order  of  events  is  discussed  by  Tillemont,  Council  of  Nicceay  note 
ii.  I have  followed,  in  the  main,  Sozomen. 

* The  writings  of  S.  Athanasius  are  full  of  testimonies  to  this  effect ; 
e.  g.y  Epistol.  Nicen.  Defens.  25,  26,  chap.  vi.  of  Oxf.  trans. 


388 


History  of  the  Church. 

‘^Many  of  the  Bishops/’  we  are  told,  ‘‘and  many  of  the  infe- 
rior clergy,  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Emperor  and-  court  by 
these  disputations.  Athanasius,  the  Alexandrine  deacon,  par- 
ticularly distinguished  himself.” 

Eusebius  of  Caesarea  ^ claims  the  honor  of  having  been  the 
first  to  suggest,  with  a view  to  conciliation,  that  there  was  a 
sufficient  basis  of  agreement  in  the  current  language 
Consub-  of  the  Creeds.  He  brought  in,  therefore,  a confession 
quite  orthodox  in  terms,  but,  as  the  Arian  faction 
showed  by  their  “winks  and  nods,”  easily  capable  of  perver- 
sion to  a heretical  meaning.  As  the  object  of  the  Council  was 
to  determine  the  sense  of  the  Creed,  such  a confession  was 
deemed  insufficient.  Constantine — so  at  least  we  are  informed 

on  the  authority  of  the  same  Eusebius — proposed  to  amend  it 
by  the  insertion  of  the  homoousion  or  “ consubstantial.” 

Begotten  -^^so,  as  the  Arians  interpreted  the  word  “begotten” 
not  made,  niean  the  same  as  “created,”  the  distinction  “be- 
gotten, ;^<?/made,”  was  introduced.  These  events  occurred,  it 
is  probable,  at  the  closing  session  of  the  Council,  when  Con- 
stantine was  present  in  person.  But  it  is  equally  probable  that 
there  had  been  a lively  discussion  of  the  term  homoousion  be- 
fore that  time,  and  that  Constantine’s  suggestion  of  it  was 
merely  a carrying  out  of  what  he  knew  to  be  the  mind  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  Bishops. 

However  this  may  have  been,  the  word  was  not  finally 
adopted  without  a most  rigid  and  searching  scrutiny.  It  was  a 
Objections  P^^^se  uot  Contained  in  Scripture;  to  which  objection  it 
answered.  ^3^3  answcrcd,  that  the  sense,  not  the  letter,  of  Scrip- 
ture, was  what  they  were  called  to  determine.  It  Had  been  re- 
jectedy  or  at  least  not  adopted,  by  the  great  Council  at  Antioch. 
To  this  it  was  replied,  in  substance,  that  the  Antiochean  fathers 
had  either  misapprehended  the  meaning  of  the  word,  being  en- 
tangled in  the  sophistry  of  Paul,  or  had  feared  misapprehension 
on  the  part  of  others.  Since  that  period,  time,  which  solves  all 


7 Theod.  i.  12. 


General  Council  of  Niccea.  389 

questions,  had  made  its  meaning  more  clear.  Finally,  it  was 
objected  that  the  word  countenanced  Sabellianism,  Tritheism,  or 
other  heresies.  ‘^Whatever  is  of  one  substance  with  anything, 
comes  from  it  either  by  emission , as  a branch  from  the  root ; or 
by  efflux^  as  a child  from  its  parent ; or  by  division,  as  a bar  cut 
in  three  pieces.’^  To  all  which  there  was  the  obvious  reply  that, 
however  true  this  might  be  of  physical  substances,  yet  spiritual 
the  Divine  essence  being  in  its  very  nature  simple,  spiritually 
indivisible,  and  incomprehensible,  we  can  only  affirm 
of  it  that  It  is  what  It  is : the  question  how  or  what  It  is  lies 
beyond  the  limit  of  human  investigation.  The  term  ‘‘one  in 
essence,'’  therefore,  merely  emphasized  a fact : it  could  not  be 
made  to  enunciate  a theory.  It  forcibly  reaffirmed  what  had 
all  along  been  affirmed,  that  “the  Son  is  ^ the  Father";  or, 
that  what  the  Father  is,  the  same  is  the  Son"  : but  to  the 
philosophic  question,  “how  He  is  of  the  Father,"  whether  by 
“emission,  emanation,  expansion,  or  division,"  it  gave  no  an- 
swer whatever.  Moreover,  there  were  other  expressions  in  the 
Creed  which  would  guard  it  sufficiently  against  a Sabellian  gloss. 
All  this  was  made  so  clear  by  the  advocates  of  the  term,  that  even 
Eusebius  was  content,  after  a while,  to  forego  his  opposition.® 

In  the  debates  on  this  subject,  Athanasius  took  a leading 
part  on  the  Catholic  side ; also,  Marcellus  of  Ancyra,  and 
Asclepas  of  Gaza.  Hosius,  it  is  said,  drew  up  the  Leadin<r 
Creed  in  the  form  which  was  finally  adopted.  Their  debaters. 
principal  opponents  were  the  two  Eusebiuses,  with  Theognis  of 
Nicaea,  and  Maris  of  Chalcedon.  About  seventeen  in  all,  either 
from  sympathy  with  Arius,  or  from  a real  scruple  against  the 
introduction  of  a term  not  sanctioned  hitherto  by  common  use, 
clung  to  the  less  definite  confession  advocated  by  secundus 
Eusebius.  Fifteen  of  these  finally  subscribed  to  the  Theonas 
homoousion,  Secundus  and  Theonas  held  out  to  the  ^cinished, 
last,  and,  with  Arius  and  two  of  his  friends,  Pistus  and  Euzoius, 
were  sent  into  exile  in  Illyria. 


® Socrates,  i.  8. 


390 


History  of  the  Church. 

The  Paschal  question  was  much  more  easily  settled.  Hatred 
of  the  Jews  and  of  everything  Judaic  ^ had  become  so  general, 
that  the  Quartodecimans  readily  consented  to  clear 
Paschal  tliemselves  of  the  taint  of  a seeming  sympathy  with 
Question,  Easter,  it  was  agreed,  should  be  everywhere 

observed  on  the  Sunday  after  the  full  moon  following  the  21st 
of  March ; and  that  there  might  be  no  miscalculation,  the 
other  Bishop  of  Alexandria  was  empowered  to  ascertain  the 
errors.  each  year,  and  to  announce  it  in  a Paschal  Epistle. 

The  error  of  the  Cathari  or  Novatians  was  treated  mildly:  their 
baptism  and  their  orders  were  to  be  esteemed  valid,  a full 
renunciation  of  their  heresy  restoring  them  to  the  privileges  of 
the  faithful.  To  prevent  confusion,  however,  their  clergy  were 
to  be  subject  to  those  of  the  Church,  except  in  places  where 
they  should  be  in  sole  possession  of  the  ground.  The  Meletian 
Bishops  were  allowed,  in  like  manner,  to  continue  in  the  min- 
istry ; but  Meletius  was  not  to  exercise  the  power  of  ordination. 
The  Paulianists  were  to  be  baptized,  when  converted  to  the 
Church. 

The  schism  of  Meletius  being  a revolt  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  See  of  Alexandria,  it  was  necessary  for  the  Council  to 
say  something  on  the  rights  of  Metropolitans.  The 
Metrophi-  decree  on  that  subject  begins  with  the  brief  sentence: 

^^Let  the  ancient  customs  prevail  to  which  is 
added,  however,  a series  of  particular  applications  of  the  prin- 
ciple, taken  down  (probably)  just  as  they  were  uttered,  with  little 
effort  to  frame  them  into  a symmetrical  whole. Alexandria, 

9 This  feeling  is  most  bitterly  expressed  in  Constantine’s  letter.  Theod. 
i.  10. 

*0  Thus  some  one  may  have  proposed,  “ Let  the  ancient  customs  be 
observed  which  give  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria  an  authority  over  Egypt,”  etc. 
Then,  some  one  else  may  have  suggested,  Since  a similar  custom  prevails  also 
with  the  Bishop  of  Rome.”  Then  others  may  have  suggested,  in  like  man- 
ner, the  custom  in  Antioch,  etc.,  etc.  In  other  words,  the  custom  of  Rome 
(being  beyond  all  question)  was  cited  as  a precedent  to  confirm  the  rights  of 
those  Churches  about  which  a question  had  been  raised.  Interpreted  in  this 
way.  Can.  VI.  needs  none  of  the  new  readings  or  amendments  that  scholars 
from  time  to  time  propose. 


General  Council  of  Niccea. 


391 


Rome,  Antioch,  Caesarea,  and  the  heads  of  other  provinces,  should 
retain  the  privileges  which  custom  had  established.  Jerusalem, 
out  of  regard  to  her  pristine  glory,  was  allowed  to  hold  to  her 
traditionary  titles,  but  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  more 
recent  but  more  actual  authority  of  the  Metropolitan  of  Caesarea. 
In  short,  the  metropolitan  principle  was  sanctioned  in  the  form 
which  usage  had  established.”  No  Bishop  should  be  ordained 
without  the  consent  of  the  Metropolitan,  or  without 
the  vote  of  a majority  of  the  Provincial  Synod.  Canons, 
Three  prelates,  at  least,  should  assist  at  ordinations.  Transla- 
tions or  removals,  on  the  part  of  the  clergy,  w^ere  rigorously 
forbidden.  Canons  were  framed  against  bodily  mutilations, 
against  the  subintroductcz^  against  the  admission  of  novices  to 
Holy  Orders,  against  excessive  rigor  or  excessive  leniency 
toward  the  lapsed,  and  against  usury  and  the  ‘Move  of  filthy 
lucre  on  the  part  of  the  clergy.  A check  was  given  to  the 
growing  usurpations  of  deacons.  On  the  Lord’s  Day  all 
Christians  were  to  pray  standing.  Synods  were  to  be  holden 
twice  a year — one  immediately  before  Lent,  “ that  all  jealousies 
and  strifes  might  be  settled,”  and  one  in  the  autumn. 

On  the  day  appointed  by  Constantine  for  the  final  session 
of  the  Council,  being  probably  the  fifth  of  July,  the  Bishops  all 
assembled  in  the  great  hall  of  the  chief  palace  of  closing 

Nicaea ; and  seated  in  opposite  rows,  with  a wide  open  Session, 

space  between,  awaited  the  promised  presence  of  the  Emperor. 
He  entered,  preceded  by  a retinue  consisting  solely  of  Christian 
friends  and  members  of  his  household.  Tall  of  stature,  majestic 
in  his  person,  radiant  in  purple  and  gold  and  precious  stones, 
fully  conscious  of  the  dignity  of  the  occasion — as  was  shown  in 
his  downcast  eyes,  in  the  blush  on  his  countenance,  and  in  the 
modesty  of  his  gait — the  great  prince  appeared  in  the 
eyes  of  his  reverential  subjects,  “little  less  than  an 
Angel  of  God”:  an  impression  enhanced  by  the 
proud  humility  with  which  he  waited  for  a signal  from  the 

**  Mos  antiquus — antiqui  mores — antiqua  consueiudo  : which  means, 
simply,  established  custom,  not  divine  or  apostolic  institution. 


The 

Emperor 

present. 


392 


History  of  the  Church. 

Bishops  before  he  seated  himself  on  the  low  chair  of  wrought 
gold’'  at  the  upper  end  of  the  hall.  A prelate,  who  stood  at 
the  head  of  the  right  wing  of  the  assembly, addressed  to  him 
a few  words  of  thanks  and  congratulation.  He  replied  in 
modest  terms,  declaring  his  sense  of  the  momentous  interests  at 
stake,  and  exhorting  to  unity  and  peace  and  mutual  forbearance. 

The  order  of  the  day  then  proceeded,  to  wit,  the  final 
judgment  of  the  Council  upon  matters  previously  discussed  and 
Final  virtually  settled.  Tlie  Emperor  labored  hard  with  the 
Action.  yrere  disposed  to  dissent  from  the  faith  of  the 

majority.  Some  of  these  he  gained  over  by  argument  and 
persuasion.  Others  yielded  only  to  the  fear  of  exile.  As 
before  intimated,  only  two  had  the  honesty  to  adhere  to  their 
real  convictions.  The  decrees  of  the  Synod  were  reduced  to 
writing,  and  signed  by  the  members  severally  in  order. 

Before  the  prelates  separated  the  Emperor  entertained  them, 
and  at  the  same  time  celebrated  his  vicennalia — the  twentieth 
Banquet  in  ^^^J^iversary  of  his  reign — by  a sumptuous  banquet. 
the  palace.  j|-  a sceuc  less  like  reality  than  a dream,”  in  the 
eyes  of  guests  unaccustomed  to  such  splendors ; not  an  earthly 
feast,  but  a vision  of  Christ’s  kingdom.”  Eusebius,  the  his- 

*2  Probably  Eustathius,  Alexander,  or  Hosius  of  Cordova.  Who  /re- 
sided in  the  Council  is  uncertain.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  the  honor  fell 
sometimes  to  one  and  sometimes  to  another  of  the  principal  Bishops:  though 
the  presiding  officer  (in  the  modem  sense)  was  the  Emperor  himself.  In  the 
later  Councils,  officers  of  the  Empire  (Judices)  acted  as  moderators,  without  a 
vote. 

*3  As  the  name  of  Hosius  appears  first,  it  has  been  claimed  that  he  had 
that  honor  as  representing  the  Roman  See.  Neither  Eusebius  nor  the  later 
historians  say  anything  of  the  sort;  and  in  all  early  copies  of  the  list  of 
signers,  Hosius  appears  simply  as  “ Osius  Episcop.  civitat.  Cordub.  Provinciae 
Hispan.,’V  without  any  allusion  to  Rome.  But  Vitus  and  Vincentius,  whose 
names  come  next,  are  declared  to  sign *  **  pro  venerabili  viro  papa  . . . Syl- 
vestro,”  etc.  The  honor  accorded  to  Hosius  is  sufficiently  accounted  for  by 
his  great  prominence  in  preceding  Councils,  his  **  widespread  fame,”  his 
favor  with  Constantine,  etc.  Euseb.  Vit.  Constant,  iii.  7. 

*4Euseb.  Vit,  Const,  iii.  15,  1 6. 


393 


General  Council  of  Niccea. 

torian,  had  the  honor  of  delivering  a grand  panegyric  on  the 
happy  occasion : an  effort  that  must  have  proved  somewhat 
tedious  to  the  Emperor,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  zest  with 
which,  in  his  answer,  the  latter  exhorted  the  clergy  to  eschew 
long  discourses.  ‘‘  Few  people  like  them,’’  he  urged  ; Long 
‘‘fewer  still  have  a liking  for  the  truth.  Men  are 
much  sooner  won  by  relieving  their  necessities  or  by  taking 
their  part ; and  there  are  some  with  whom  presents  go  far,  or 
even  little  courtesies  and  kindnesses,  towards  gaining  their  good 
will.”  In  all  this — except  in  the  matter  of  long  speeches,  to- 
wards which  Constantine  had  a decided  weakness — the  practice 
of  the  great  prince  accorded  with  his  precepts.  He  loaded  the 
Bishops  with  presents,  and  was  by  no  means  sparing  of  kisses 
and  caresses.  “ I,  too,  am  a Bishop,”  he  declared.  “ You  are 
Bishops  of  the  inside  of  the  Church,  I of  the  outside.”  That 
this  view  of  his  position  was  something  more  than  a jest,  he 
showed  clearly  enough  afterwards,  by  the  vigorous  course  that 
he  pursued  towards  dissenters  banishing  some,  frowning 
upon  others,  and  writing  numerous  epistles,  in  which  his  cold 
worldly  wisdom  was  curiously  mixed  up  with  theological  heat 
and  bitterness.^®  The  Council,  in  fact,  had  proved  a great 
success,  and  Constantine  was  not  a little  intoxicated  with  the 
glory  of  it. 

The  Bishops,  on  their  part,  took  care  that  authentic  copies 
of  their  proceedings  should  be  sent  to  Alexandria,  and  the  other 
principal  sees.*^ 

Of  these  the  Synodal  Epistle,  addressed  to  “ the  beloved 
brethren  in  Egypt,”  is  the  only  one  extant. 

'SEuseb.  Vit.  C.  iii.  17. 

See  Epistle  of  Constantine  in  Theod.  i.  10. 

*7  The  Creed  is  given  in  the  Letter  of  Eusebius  to  the  brethren  in  Ccesarea^ 
Theod.  i.  12;  also  in  an  Epistle  of  S.  Athanas.  to  Joviany  etc.,  etc.  See 
Hammond,  Definitions  of  Faith  and  Canons  of  Discipline.  Among  the 
spurious  documents  there  is  a correspondence  between  Hosius  and  Sylvester, 
in  which  the  former  asks,  and  the  latter  graciously  accords,  the  papal  sanction 
to  the  acts  of  the  Council.  See  Mansi,  Conciliay  tom.  ii.  pp.  719-722. 

17* 


394 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CONSTANTINE  AND  S.  HELENA. 

% 

From  the  field  of  his  theological  triumph  the  Emperor*  repaired 
by  slow  stages  to  Rome,  with  a view  to  the  second 
A.D.  326.  celebration  of  his  Vicennalia. 

But  the  ‘‘place  of  the  old  Romans’*  was  not  at  all  congenial 
to  that  Oriental  pomp,  that  dazzling  and  unapproachable  self- 
isolation, which  Constantine,  in  imitation  of  his  pre- 
feeiin^in  decessor  Diocletian,  had  begun  of  late  years  to  affect. 

It  was  even  less  favorable  to  the  display  of  an  extra- 
ordinary zeal  for  Christianity.  The  city  still  remained  repub- 
lican in  temper,  and  more  than  half  heathen.  It  clung  with 
passionate  pride  to  the  glories  of  the  past : glories  to  which 
Constantine,  by  his  neglect  of  the  old  seat  of  empire,  and  by 
his  manifest  partiality  for  Oriental  manners,  seemed  to  be 
strangely  indifferent. 

A cold  welcome,  therefore,  awaited  the  Master  of  the  World 
in  the  great  metropolis.  The  patricians  sulked ; the  people, 
true  children  of  Remus,  were,  as  usual,  insolent  and 
Ejuferor's  Satirical,  liking  nothing  better  than  the  chance  of  a 
reaption.  their  superiors.  Altogether,  his  reception  was 

quite  a contrast  to  that  which,  fourteen  years  before,  had  been 
accorded  to  the  conqueror  of  Maxentius.  But  he  bore  it  with  a 
semblance  of  equanimity.  “Strange  I did  not  feel  it!”  was 
his  quiet  remark,  when  told  that  one  of  his  statues  had  been 
pelted  by  the  mob.  He  consoled  himself,  however,  with  an  occa 
sional  sarcasm,  in  his  turn,  at  the  mock-military  airs  of  the 

* Zosim.  Hist.  Nov.  ii. ; Ammian.  Marcell.  xvi. ; Aurelius  Victor  Zonarae, 
Annul,  tom.  iii. ; Euseb.  De  Vit.  Constant, 


Constantine  and  S.  Helena. 


395 


Roman  knights ; and  in  other  ways  his  resentment,  though  in 
the  main  carefully  concealed,  showed  that  it  only  awaited  a fit 
occasion  to  break  forth. 

That  occasion  came  suddenly,  darkly,  and  calamitously,  in 
orie  of  those  fearful  domestic  tragedies  which  the  classic  reserve 
of  the  old  drama  submitted  to  the  ears  rather  than  to  Domestic 
the  eyes  of  the  spectator : which  came  to  the  outer  Tragedy. 
world  only  in  dread  outcries  from  within,  or  in  broken  whispers 
and  unsatisfying  rumors. 

Out  of  the  cloud  of  mystery  in  which  Constantine  took  pains 
to  envelop  this  passage  of  his  life,  we  may  gather,  with  some 
approach  to  certainty,*  that  Fausta,  his  second  wife,  crispusand 
had  long  felt  a growing  solicitudefor  the  future  of  T'^xusta. 
her  own  children,  and  a proportionate  jealousy  of  Crispus,  the 
Emperor’s  son  by  a former  marriage,  the  idol  of  the  army  and 
people,  and  until  quite  recently  the  idol  of  his  father.  Hence 
whispers,  intrigues,  and  parties  in  the  palace.  Helena,  the 
strong-minded  mother  of  the  Emperor,  was  partial  to  the  ami- 
able and  gifted  Crispus.  The  brothers  of  Constantine,  sons  of 
Constantins  Chlorus  by  his  second  marriage,  naturally 
inclined  to  the  views  of  Fausta,  and  perhaps  stimulated  and 
her  maternal  fears.  Rumor  insinuated  another  and 
darker  reason  for  the  imperial  stepmother’s  hatred.  It  was  the 
old  story  of  Phaedra  and  Hippolytus,  of  Joseph  and  Potiphar’s 
wife.  The  result  of  it  all  was  that  the  heroic  youth,  whose 
military  prowess  was  enough  in  itself  to  make  him  an  object  of 
suspicion,  was  seized  by  the  order  of  his  jealous  father ; was 
banished,  after  a brief  and  secret  examination,  to  Pola,  a small 
town  on  the  coast  of  Istria ; and  there,  it  is  said,  was  Death  of 
made  away  with  in  secret.  A similar  fate  befel  the  crispus. 
sole  surviving  son  of  Licinius  and  Constantia,  a child  about 
twelve  years  of  age. 

Helena  was  absent  in  the  East  when  all  this  happened.  She 


* De  Broglie,  H.  de  VEglise^  etc.,  skilfully  brings  together  the  scattered 
notices  of  this  transaction. 


396 


History  of  the  Church. 


hastened  to  the  court.  But  her  reproaches  and  lamentations 
could  not  bring  the  dead  to  life  again ; they  only  added  other 
names  to  the  list  of  victims.  The  sword  now  raged  among 
Death  of  Emperor's  advisers.  The  days  of  Nero  seemed  to 
Fausta,  have  returned.  Fausta  disappeared  as  mysteriously 
as  had  her  noble  stepson,  smothered  in  a hot  bath,  it  was 
reported,  by  order  of  her  deeply-offended  and  inexorable 
husband. 

By  these  fearful  tragedies,  two  great  souls — the  Emperor  and 
his  religious  but  high-minded  mother — were  plunged  into  an 
xhe  abyss  of  grief,  not  unmingled  with  remorse,^  from  which 
andZt^  the  only  practicable  escape  was  in  a life  of  earnest 
Mother.  repentance  and  supernatural  devotion,  or  at  least  of 
indefatigable  activity  in  public  works. 

The  Emperor  found  a field  for  his  stimulated  energies  on  the 
banks  of  the  Propontis,  the  well-known  site  of  the  venerable  old 
town  of  Byzantium.  There,  in  fruitful  imagination,  and  by  an 
^«/7^f/>^^»/ii^stinct  well-nigh  prophetic,  he  had  already  planted  a 
New  Rome.  metropolis  of  the  world.  The  gigantic  enterprise 

was  now  undertaken  in  earnest.  In  a few  years  there  arose,  as  if 
under  the  stroke  of  a magician^ s wand,  a second  Rome,  more 
magnificent,  if  not  more  solid,  than  the  first  : a city  sacred  to 
Christianity  from  its  foundation-stone,  yet  adorned  with  the  rich 
spoils  of  heathen  culture,  and  destined  to  be  the  home,  the 
repository,  the  ark,  of  all  that  was  worth  preserving  and  trans- 
mitting from  the  antique  civilization.  The  sagacity 
that  planned  such  a work,  in  such  a time  and  place,  is 
only  equalled  by  the  reckless  resolution  and  iron  strength  of 
will  which  carried  it  on  so  rapidly  to  a successful  achievement. 
We  may  well  credit  the  heathen  historian’s  complaint,^  that  the 


Gigantic 

Effort. 


3 The  wild  stories  told  by  Zosimus  and  Zonaras — that  Constantine  resorted 
to  the  heathen  priesthood  for  lustrations,  etc. — probably  belong  to  this  period, 
and  are  not  altogether  improbable,  though  they  are  too  confused  and  contra- 
dictory to  be  taken  to  the  letter.  Zos.  ii. ; Zon.  iii. 

4 Zosim.  lib.  ii.  So  also  St.  Jerome : Constantinopolis  dedicatur  pen^ 
omnium  urbium  nuditate.  Hieron.  Chron.  p.  i8i. 


Constantine  and  S.  Helena. 


397 


empire  staggered  under  the  burden,  that  towns  were  depopu- 
lated, and  that  curses  not  a few  followed  the  hot  haste  of  the 
spendthrift  builder  of  cities. 

But  this,  after  all,  was  only  part  of  a great  system  of  self- 
imposed  toil.  The  restless  energy  of  Constantine  could  be 
content  with  nothing  less  than  a total  reconstruction  Grand 
of  the  empire.  Hitherto  the  armies  of  Rome  had  been  Schemes. 
stationed  on  the  frontiers,  in  forts  or  in  fortified  camps — a per- 
petual menace  to  the  nations  that  lay  beyond.  Constan- 
tine withdrew  the  greater  part  of  the  force  into  the 
towns  and  cities  of  the  interior. ^ They  would  thus  be  more 
immediately  under  the  control  of  the  government,  while  they 
served  at  the  same  time  to  overawe  an  unruly  population,  and  to 
strengthen  the  State  from  within.  The  Barbarians,  meanwhile, 
might  be  subdued  by  Christianity  more  effectually  than  by  force 
of  arms.  Invasion  might  be  converted  into  much-needed  im- 
migration. Constantine,  in  fact,  had  outgrown  that  classic 
narrowness  of  mind  which  regarded  all  foreigners  as  Barbarians 
and  all  Barbarians  as  foes.^  When  he  conquered  the  Goths  he 
placed  them  at  once  upon  the  footing  of  favored  allies.  With 
the  Sarmatians,  in  like  manner,  he  peopled  the  waste 
places  of  Italy,  Scythia,  and  Macedonia.  To  the  in-  Policy. 
habitants  of  the  Chersonesus  he  gave  free  trade.  And  it  has 
been  well  observed,  that  his  negotiations  with  the  King  of 
Persia,  in  behalf  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  latter  prince,  are 
the  earliest  example  of  that  enlightened  Christian  diplomacy  by 
which  nations  in  modern  times  are  bound  together. 

The  same  general  policy  of  strengthening  the  State  from 
within,  led  to  a remodelling  of  the  government  on  the  most 
extensive  scale.  Four  prefectures  were  established, 

New  offices  were  created,  with  a nice  graduation  of  Reform. 
costly  dignities  adorned  with  all  the  pomp  of  Oriental  titles. 


5 For  this  he  is  much  censured  by  Zosimus  and  others,  but  ably  defended 
by  De  Broglie. 

^Euseb.  De  Vit.  Con.  iv.  5-14. 


398  History  of  the  Clmrch. 

In  this  there  was  a show  of  reform  but  little  of  the  reality.  It 
was  a gilding,  not  a healing,  of  what  had  become  an  incurable 
decay.  It  was  a sort  of  apotheosis  of  defunct  power,  a gorgeous 
exaggeration  of  the  pride  of  place,  which  corrupted  language 
and  contributed  not  a little  to  the  corruption  of  morals  and 
religion.  When  princes  came  to  be  addressed  as  all-mighty 
and  all-worshipful,*’  saints  could  hardly  be  invoked  as  less  than 
‘^all-holy  and  all-pure.”  Hence  a turgid  unreality  of  language 
and  of  thought,^  which  flowed  beyond  the  bounds  of  political 
life,  and  crept  into  the  order,  the  worship,  and  even  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church. 

The  Church,  in  fact,  had  to  take  the  evil  with  the  good  of 
imperial  protection.  The  clergy  were  honored  and  enriched ; 
Church  and  i^^g^i^cent  edifices  were  erected;  titles,  privileges,  and 
state.  exemptions  were  conferred  with  a lavish  hand.  It  was 
a shower  of  golden  sunshine  coming  from  a quarter  which  had 
hitherto  been  black  with  the  storms  of  persecution.  We  need 
not  wonder  that  there  were  some  to  whom  it  seemed  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  reign  of  Christ,®  and  who,  with  little  thought  for 
the  future,  bartered  the  freedom  of  the  Church  for  outward 
magnificence  and  gilded  chains. 

On  the  whole,  while  in  Constantine’s  policy  we  may  dis- 
cover many  signs  of  a wonderful  forecast,  yet  there  was  also 
not  a little  of  the  precipitancy  of  a splendid  fancy: 
Constl^  perhaps  the  eagerness  of  a mind  ill  at  ease  with  itself 
and  happy  only  in  the  turmoil  of  ceaseless  occupation. 
There  was  prodigality  without  restraint,  luxury  without  repose : 
leading  to  burdens  and  taxations  ruinous  to  the  mass  of  the 

7 Saint-worship,  image-worship,  and  the  rhetorical  extravagances  intro- 
duced into  the  liturgies,  etc.,  may  be  partly  accounted  for  and  partly  excused 
by  the  enormities  of  civil  worship,  which  date  from  Diocletian  and  Constan- 
tine. What  would  seem  to  us  adulation  appeared  to  the  Greeks  of  the 
empire  little  more  than  ordinary  respect. 

® Speaking,  e g.^oi  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  Eusebius  says : It 
may  be  that  this  was  that  second  and  new  Jerusalem,”  etc.  Vit.  Constant. 
ilk  33- 


Constantine  and  S.  Helena, 


399 


people.^  To  make  matters  worse,  the  Emperor  fell  into  the  com- 
mon error  of  pluming  himself  on  qualities  which  he  least  pos- 
sessed : he  coveted  the  fame  of  a theologian,  doted  on  rhetoric, 
and  burdened  his  memory  with  a crude  mass  of  multifarious 
learning.*®  All  this  had  the  effect  of  surrounding  him  with  flat- 
terers, under  the  name  of  divines,  while  adulation”  flourished 
under  the  venerable  garb  of  religion. 

In  the  meantime  the  Emperor^s  mother,  with  a spirit  more 
devout  than  her  son's,  but  not  less  eager,  had  sought  a balm  for 
her  wounds,  partly  in  a progress  through  the  Eastern 

. 1 T . . 1 r • r TT*  Pilgrimage 

provinces,  and  partly  m tracing  the  footprints  of  Him  of 

who  bore  the  world's  sorrows,  through  all  the  sacred 
haunts  of  the  Holy  Land.  Wherever  she  went,  her  munificence 
was  crowned  by  that  of  her  son.  Churches  were  erected,  with 
lavish  expenditure,  in  Bethlehem  and  on  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
At  Mamre,  idolatry  was  swept  away,  and  a house  consecrated  for 
Christian  worship.  Innumerable  other  shrines,  already  in  exist- 
ence, were  elaborately  adorned  Avith  princely  offerings. 

Alms  for  the  poor,  largesses  for  the  soldiery,  redemption-  ivorks, 
money  for  captives,  deliverance  for  the  oppressed,  decrees  of 
amnesty  for  exiles,  grants  of  privileges  or  exemptions  for  strait- 
ened communities,  made  the  progress  of  S.  Helena  a charitable 
ovation,  and  caused  her  name  to  be  remembered  in  the  East  as 
the  synonym  of  all  womanly  and  queenly  virtues. 

It  had  long  been  the  intention  of  the  Emperor,  moved  as  he 
alleged  by  a divine  suggestion,  to  take  measures  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  site  of  which  had  been  pre- 
served  by  local  tradition,”  though  hidden  from  view  Sfp**ichre. 
and  purposely  desecrated  by  a temple  of  Venus,  built  upon  the 
spot  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian. 

9 He  was  more  generous  than  just.  Euseb.  Vit.  C.  iv.  1-4. 

*oSee  the  ‘^Oration  to  the  Assembly  of  the  Saints,”  in  which  Eusebius 
probably  had  a hand.  Ap.  Vit.  Con. 

” Which,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  Constantine  rebuked.  Euseb.  Vit, 
Con.  iv.  48. 

*2  Williams’s  Holy  City^  etc. 


400 


History  of  the  Church. 

How  far  the  pilgrimage  of  S.  Helena  was  connected  with 
this  object  the  narrative  of  Eusebius  leaves  uncertain.  It  is  not 
Its  recov-  iHiprobable  that  the  first  steps  were  taken  under  her 
eye.  The  temple  of  Venus  was  demolished.  The  arti- 
ficial mound  on  which  it  had  been  built  was  carefully  removed, 
and  the  earth  carried  away  to  a distance.  The  ^ ‘ holy  cave 
appeared,  as  if  by  a miracle,  ‘^a  faithful  similitude  of  His  return 
to  life’*  who  saw  no  corruption.  It  was  added,  in  later  times, 
that  three  crosses  were  found,  the  middle  one  distinguished  by 
the  well-known  title.*^  The  news  was  conveyed  in  glowing 
terms  to  Constantine.  Furnished  by  him  with  ample  means  and 
particular  instructions,*^  Macarius,  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
assisted  by  the  governors  of  the  eastern  provinces,  hastened  to 
adorn  the  sacred  spot  with  ^‘a  House  of  Prayer  worthy  of  the 
worship  of  God.”  The  temple  thus  erected  as  ^^a  Monument 
of  the  Saviour’s  Resurrection,” *5  is  amply  described  by  Eusebius. 
It  was  not  finished,  however,  till  about  ten  years  after  its  com- 
mencement. 

Helena,  in  the  meantime,  had  departed  to  her  rest,  in  the 
eightieth  year  of  her  age.  Originally  an  inn-keeper’s  daughter 

*3  The  silence  of  Eusebius  as  to  the  discovery  of  the  Cross  is  dismissed 
quite  cavalierly  by  De  Broglie  as  a bizarrerie.  But  the  same  “bizarrerie’* 
occurs  in  Constantine’s  letter  to  Macarius  ( Vit.  Con.  iii.  30),  and  in  the  ac- 
count of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  who  visited  Jerusalem  seven  years  later. — 
Itinerar.  Burdigal.  Patrol,  viii.  790.  The  earliest  allusions  to  the  discovery 
are  in  S.  Cyril  of  Jerus. — Cateches.  iv.  10;  x.  19;  xiii.  4;  Epist.  ad  Constan- 
Hum  (probably  spurious).  S.  Ambrose  (a.d.  395)  gives  a florid  account  of  the 
discovery,  but  mentions  no  miracle  connected  with  it. — Oral,  in  ob.  Theod. 
Pope  Gelasius  (a.d.  492)  judiciously  remarks:  “There  is  a written  account 
of  the  discovery  of  the  Lord’s  Cross,  and  another  of  the  discovery  of  the  head 
of  John  Baptist:  novel  revelations  which  some  Catholics  read.  But  when 
they  fall  into  the  hands  of  Catholics,  let  the  caution  of  S.  Paul  be  read  first : 

Prove  all  things;  hold  fast  to  that  which  is  good.^^  See  Tillemont,  Art, 
S.  Helene ; and  Baronius,  Annal.  iii.  p.  292. 

*4Euseb.  Vit.  Const,  iii.  30. 

*s  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  when  Eusebius  wrote,  the  idea  of  the  Resur- 
rection was  most  prominent  in  connection  with  the  Holy  Sepulchre  : afterwards 
it  was  the  Holy  Cross,  the  true  Cross,  etc.,  etc. 


Eusebian  Faction^  and  Death  of  Arius.  .401 

in  Drepanum,  a town  of  Bithynia;  then  wife  of  Constantins 
Chlorus,  to  whom  she  bore  the  future  head  of  the  empire ; then 
repudiated  for  the  sake  of  a political  marriage : she 
finally  emerged  from  obscurity  with  the  rising  fortunes  dies, 
of  her  son,  by  whom,  it  is  said,  she  was  brought  to  a 
full  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  whom  she  proved  a faithful 
and  wise  counsellor;  the  only  one,  perhaps,  of  all  his  friends 
that  served  him  without  guile  or  fulsome  adulation. 

Her  death  was  a loss  to  him  in  more  ways  than  one.  For, 
after  her  departure,  he  fell  into  evil  hands.  A new  set  of 
advisers  got  possession  of  the  imperial  ear.  So  that,  when  we 
come  to  the  dedication  of  that  ‘‘House  of  Prayer,** 

Council  of 

with  which  S.  Helena’s  name  is  connected,  we  witness  Jerusalem, 
the  strange  spectacle  of  a throng  of  Bishops,  the  glory 
of  the  East  for  dignity  and  learning,  dishonoring  the  Divinity 
of  Him  whose  death  and  resurrection  they  had  professedly  as- 
sembled to  honor.  To  explain  this  change  we  must  go  back 
a few  years,  and  take  up  the  history  of  the  Arian  faction  after 
the  Council  of  Nicaea. 


/ CHAPTER  V. 

THE  EUSEBIAN  FACTION,  AND  DEATH  OF  ARIUS. 

Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  the  leader  of  the  Arian  party,  had 
signed  the  Homoousion  with  great  reluctance  : it  has  pusebius 
even  been  alleged,  and  the  story  is  at  least  character- 

^ ognts  sent 

istic  of  the  temper  of  the  man,  that  in  signing,  he  intoexiu, 
managed  to  drop  an  iota  into  the  obnoxious  word,  and  so  con- 
fessed only  a likeness  instead  of  oneness  of  substance  in  the  God- 
head. Hence  the  term  Homoiousion,  afterwards  is  the  symbol 
of  the  Semiarians.  However  this  may  be,  his  lack  of  sincerity  in 
the  Faith  soon  became  apparent.  It“  also  came  to  light  that  he 


402 


History  of  the  Church. 

had  been  an  active  intriguer  against  Constantine  during  the  con- 
test between  the  latter  and  his  rival,  Licinius.  He  was  therefore 
sent  into  exile,  with  Theognis  of  Nicaea  as  partner  of  his  fate. 

But  the  Eusebian  party  was  powerful  at  court,  and  especially 
they  had  a fast  friend  in  Constantia,  the  widow  of  Licinius. 

She  helped  them  in  many  ways,  while  living;  and 
recalled,  wlien  slie  camc  to  her  end, — an  event  hastened,  in  all 
A.D.  331.  probability,  by  that  outbreak  of  jealousy  which  had  so 
cruelly  robbed  her  of  her  son, — she  commended  to  her  brother 
an  Arian  priest,  who  became  from  that  time  his  bosom  friend 
and  counsellor.  By  this  man  the  Emperor  was  persuaded  of  the 
good  intentions  of  the  Arian  leaders.  Eusebius  and  Theognis 
returned  to  their  sees  and  their  plots.  Arius  had  the  honor  of 
a message,  and,  when  that  failed,  of  a letter,  from  the  Emperor 
himself ; in  compliance  with  which  he  came  to  Constantinople, 
bringing  Euzoius  with  him.  To  the  somewhat  vague  question, 
whether  they  held  the  Faiths  they  readily  answered  in  the  afhrm- 
Their  ative.  They  also  drew  up  a confession  in  writing, 
confession,  conceived  in  Scriptural  terms,  in  which  the  Emperor’s 
theological  ear  could  discern  no  token  of  heresy.*  On  the 
strength  of  this,  Arius  was  not  only  received  into  favor,  but  was 
sent  to  Alexandria  with  an  injunction  that  he  should  be  restored 
to  the  communion  of  the  Church. 

He  encountered  there  a man  of  sterner  stuff  than  the  ami- 
able prelate  he  had  known  in  other  days.  Alexander  had 
Athanasius  departed  in  peace  soon  after  the  close  of  the  great 
Bishop.  Council.  His  parting  breath  was  laden  with  the  name 
of  Athanasius.  ‘^Thou  shalt  not  escape  ! ” he  cried,  when  the 
beloved  deacon  failed  to  make  his  appearance ; and  he  laid  on 
him,  though  absent,  the  burden  of  his  office.  The  Church  had 
confirmed  the  dying  prelate’s  choice.  When  Arius  arrived, 
therefore,  in  Alexandria,  he  found  little  comfort  in  store  for 

* ‘‘  We  believe  in  one  God,”  etc. ; ‘‘  and  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  His 
Son,  who  was  begotten  (or  made)  of  Him  before  all  ages,  God  the  Word  by 
whom  all  things  were  made,”  etc.  Socrat.  i.  26;  Sozom.  ii.  27. 


Eusebian  Faction,  and  Death  of  Arius.  403 


Arius 

repelled. 


Eusebian 

Policy. 


him  there.  The  primate  repelled  him ; S.  Antony  came  down 
from  the  desert  to  warn  the  people  against  him;  a 
threatening  letter  from  the  Emperor  was  respectfully  but 
firmly  disregarded  in  short,  ‘‘no  communion  for  the  invent- 
or of  heresy,’’  “no  portion  in  the  Catholic  Church  for  that 
which  lifts  up  itself  against  Christ,”  was  the  cry  that  greeted 
the  arch  heretic  from  every  side. 

The  Eusebians^  found  it  necessary  to  pick  their  way  with 
caution.  The  Emperor,  they  knew,  was  sensitive  to  attacks  on 
the  Creed  of  Nicaea.  But,  to  balance  this,  he  was  at 
heart  indifferent  to  the  truth  anxious  for  peace,  and 
impatient  of  the  “troublers  of  Israel,”  whosoever  they  might 
be.  To  make  sure  of  him,  therefore,  the  Eusebians  avoided 
all  appearance  of  zeal  for  doctrine,  and  directed  their  attacks 
chiefly  at  men.  Eustathius  of  Antioch  was  one  of  their  E^^fathius 
first  victims.  Charges  of  immorality  were  trumped  deposed. 
up  against  him.  A synod  was  quietly  got  together,  consisting 
entirely  of  prominent  Eusebians.  The  Bishop  was  condemned 
and  deposed,  chiefly  on  the  evidence  of  an  abandoned  woman, 
and  a more  pliant  instrument  was  put  into  his  place. 

Hence  the  beginning  of  a schism  in  Antioch  which  lasted 
some  eighty  years.  For  the  orthodox  in  that  city  ad-  schism  in 
hered  to  their  deposed  bishop,  and  kept  together  as  a 
party,  under  the  name  of  Eustathians,  not  only  during  331-4”. 
the  time  of  the  Arian  rule,  but  even  after  Providence  had 
given  them  a prelate  of  irreproachable  faith. 

The  course  pursued  toward  Eustathius  was  repeated  in  the 
case  of  Asclepas  of  Gaza,  and  Eutropius  and  Lucius 
of  Hadrianople.  Maximus  of  Jerusalem,  who  succeed-  victims. 
ed  Macarius,  by  his  easy  temper  played  into  the  hands  of  the 


* Both  the  Emperor  and  Eusebius  of  Nic.  wrote,  and  both  received 
spirited  answers.  St.  Athanas.  Apol.  con.  Arian.  59;  Socrat.  i.  27. 

3 This  name  applies  generally  to  the  Court  party,  consisting  of  Arians  of 
various  grades. 

4 The  place  was  offered  to  Eusebius  of  Caesarea,  but  he  declined.  Vit. 
Con.  iii.  59-62. 


404  History  of  the  Church. 

party,  and  escaped  persecution  at  the  cost  of  subsequent  re- 
morse. Marcellus  of  Ancyra  was  not  so  discreet ; but  the 
charges  against  him  being  chiefly  of  a doctrinal  character,  it 
was  necessary  for  the  faction,  before  making  a direct  attack,  to 
have  their  own  power  established  on  a firmer  basis. 

Athanasius,  the  meanwhile,  was  not  forgotten.  Eusebius  of 
Nicomedia  kept  up  a brisk  correspondence  with  the  leaders  of 
Charges  Meletians  and  other  malcontents  in  Egypt;  and 

^/thana-  t^^^eir  help,  three  accusations  were  framed  and  sub- 
stus.  mitted  to  the  judgment  of  Constantine.  The  Bishop, 
it  was  said,  had  forced  the  Meletians  to  pay  him  a tribute  of 
linen  robes;  he  had  assisted  a rebel  with  money;  Macarius,  a 
priest,  had  been  sent  by  him  to  stop  the  ministrations  of  a certain 
Ischyras,  and  in  the  violence  of  his  proceedings,  had  broken 
a sacred  chalice.  The  Emperor  dismissed  the  charges  with  con- 
tempt, but  they  were  none  the  less  bruited  abroad,  and  others 
more  heinous  were  added.  The  Episcopal  ^‘sorcerer,*’  it  was 
urged,  had  murdered  Arsenius,  a Meletian  bishop,  and  had  cut 
off  his  hand  to  make  use  of  in  necromancy.  Finally,  a charge 
of  fornication  was  kept  in  reserve,  and  an  abandoned  woman 
was  secured  to  bear  witness  to  it. 

Constantine  at  length  consented  that  a council  should  be 
Council  at  Csssarea,  for  the  trial  of  these  and  similar 

Ccesarea.  charges.  The  Council  assembled,  but  Athanasius  de- 
clined to  appear.  A second  synod  was  appointed  to  be  holden 
aTryii  at  Tyre.  Athanasius  came,  compelled  so  to  do  by  an 
A.D.  335.'  urgent  command  of  the  Emperor ; and,  in  the  face  of 
the  manifest  hostility  of  the  Count  Dionysius,  who  presided 
over  the  assembly,  managed,  on  most  of  the  charges,  to  cover 
Charges  enemies  with  confusion.  Arsenius  was  produced 

disproved,  hoth  hands  whole.  The  woman’s  witness  mis- 

carried, the  accused  having  taken  the  precaution  to  be  person- 
ated on  the  trial  by  a friend,  whom  she  rashly  mistook  for  the 
alleged  offender.  Ischyras,  it  appeared,  was  not  in  Holy  Or- 
ders, and  his  church  and  chalice  were  as  much  of  a myth  as  his 
office.  In  short,  nothing  was  established  except  the  skill  of  the 


Eusebian  Faction,  and  Death  of  Arms.  405 


Arius 

received. 


juggler''  who  could  thus  turn  the  tables  upon  his  adversaries; 
and  had  not  the  Council  bethought  them  to  send  a packed  com- 
mittee to  Egypt,  who  might  gather  fresh  charges  and  proofs, 
and  examine  new  witnesses,  unembarrassed  by  his  baleful  pres- 
ence, their  defeat  would  have  been  total,  and  beyond  all  hopes 
of  recovery.  As  it  was,  they  adjourned  for  the  pres- 

, , , . , / -r  1 1-1  Council  at 

ent,  and  proceeded  in  a body  to  Jerusalem,  whither  Jerusalem^ 
they  had  been  summoned  by  the  Emperor,  to  assist  in  ‘ 
the  dedication  of  the  ‘‘Martyry,"  or  Church  of  the  Resur- 
rection. 

There  they  consummated  the  work  so  infamously  begun. 
The  committee  sent  to  Egypt  reported  adversely  to  the  case  of 
the  accused.  Calvary  became  the  second  time  the 
scene  of  a wicked  condemnation  on  the  one  hand,  of 
a good  confession  on  the  other.  Christ  was  a second  time 
wounded  in  the  house  of  His  friends.  A council,  second  only 
to  that  of  Nicaea  in  the  dignity  and  number  of  the  Bishops 
present,  received  Arius  into  communion,  deposed  Athana- 
Athanasius,  and  virtually  denied  the  Nicene  faith.  MlirceUus, 
Marcellus  of  Ancyra  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  deposed. 
few  that  resisted.  For  this  he  also  was  deposed,  either  then  or 
within  a year  after,  on  a charge  of  heresy  akin  to  Sabellianism  : 
a charge,  by  the  way,  which  was  not  without  foundation,  his 
theory  of  the  Immanent  as  distinguished  from  the  Forthgoing 
Word  looking  much  like  a denial  of  the  personal  preexistence 
of  Christ. 

Athanasius  repaired  at  once  to  Constantinople ; where,  the 
avenues  of  the  court  being  closed  against  him,  he  planted  him- 
self in  the  Emperor's  path  as  he  was  riding  out  to  his 

. ^ Athanasius 

Villa,  and  addressed  him  in  those  accents  of  truth  and  before  the 
soberness  which  Constantine,  with  all  his  faults,  was 
willing  enough  to  hear  from  the  mouths  of  the  clergy.  His 
conscience  was  touched.  The  Episcopal  cabal  was  summoned 
from  Tyre,  whither  they  had  returned  after  the  dedication  of 
the  Martyry.  Five  of  their  leaders  were  deputed  to  answer 
for  the  rest,  who,  finding  Constantine  averse  to  the  sentence  of 


4o6  History  of  the  Church. 

deposition,  and  not  at  all  disposed  to  see  it  carried  out,  alarmed 
Newaccu^  his  fcars  by  a new  and  more  ingenious  slander.  Atha- 
sation.  nasius  had  threatened,  they  said,  to  cut  off  the  ex- 
port of  corn  from  Egypt  to  Constantinople.  On  such  a charge 
suspicion  was  equivalent  to  condemnation.  The  Emperor  gave 
way.  With  a moderation,  however,  that  proved  highly  dis- 
tasteful to  the  Eusebians,  and  showed  a lingering  sense  of  jus- 
tice in  the  imperial  breast,  the  See  of  Alexandria  was  not  de- 
clared vacant  : the  primate  was  simply  banished  to 

He  ^oes  into  . 

exile,  Treves  in  Gaul.  It  may  be  added  that  his  reception 

A.D.  336. 

in  that  capital,  on  the  part  of  the  faithful  generally,  and 
more  especially  at  the  hands  of  Constantinus,  the  Emperor’s  eld- 
est son,  was  more  like  a triumph  than  the  ordinary  lot  of  an  exile. 

One  thing  more  was  needed  to  crown  the  victory  of  the 
Eusebian  faction.  Arius  had  been  already  received,  but  now  he 
Eusebian  ^^^st  be  recognized  publicly  in  Constantinople,  in  sight 
triumph.  Qf  court  and  the  world.  An  order  to  that  effect 
was  obtained  from  the  palace,  addressed  to  Alexander,  the  aged 
and  orthodox  pastor  of  the  imperial  city.  The  arch-heretic, 
moreover,  had  made  the  way  easy  by  signing  an  irreproachable 
confession  of  faith;  to  which,  also,  the  Emperor  had  sworn 
him  on  the  fearful  adjuration,  ‘‘If  thy  faith  be  upright,  so  is 
thine  oath ; if  thy  faith  be  false,  may  God  confound  thee  ! ” 

The  good  Bishop  put  no  confidence  in  such  professions. 
Sorely  beset  by  his  sovereign  and  his  brother  prelates,  hardly 
Prayer  0/  ^uowing  wliat  course  to  take,  he  repaired  to  the 
Alexander,  church,  accompanied  by  one  Macarius,  a priest,  who 
afterwards  related  the  story  to  S.  Athanasius,  and  there  put  up 
his  petition  to  this  effect:  “If  Arius  is  to  be  admitted  to- 
morrow, then  take  Thy  servant  out  of  this  world  ; or  else  take 
Arius,  lest  heresy  should  seem  to  be  admitted  along  with  him.” 

The  prayer  was  answered.  On  the  eve  of  the  Sunday  appoint- 
ed for  his  reception,  Arius  was  conducted  in  a sort  of  triumph 
Triumph  t^rough  the  principal  streets  of  the  city.  To  all  who 
0/ Arius.  him  he  seemed  to  be  in  excellent  health  and 

spirits.  But  when  the  procession  came  to  a well-known  spot, 


Eusebian  Faction^  and  Death  of  Arius.  407 

near  the  great  porphyry  pillar,  in  Constantine  square,  a 
sudden  indisposition  forced  him  to  retire  to  a house  hard  by. 
Shortly  after,  an  outcry  came  from  the  house.  The 

/ , . 11  ri  His  sudden 

crowd  rushes  m.  They  are  greeted  by  an  awful  spec-  deaths 
tacle.  Arius,  it  appeared,  has  fallen  headlong  to  the 
ground  ; a rupture  has  taken  place  with  a great  flow  of  blood  ; 
and,  his  bowels  gushing  out,  death  seems  to  have  followed  almost 
immediately.  The  news  spread  rapidly  through  the  city,  and 
through  the  world.  Some  saw  in  the  calamity  the  finger  of  God ; 
there  were  others  who  regarded  it  as  the  effect  of  sorcery.  It 
was  left  to  modern  unbelief  to  suggest  that  Arius  had  been 
poisoned  by  some  zealous  Catholic. ^ 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  this  remarkable 
event,  the  effect  at  that  crisis  was  deep  and  permanent.  Atha- 
nasius declares  that  many  were  converted  by  it.  It  Effect  on 
was  remembered  the  next  day  in  a crowded  church  ; the  People, 
Bishop  praising  God,  and  the  people  responding  in  a suitable 
service  of  thanksgiving.  The  name  of  Arius  became  popularly 
associated  with  that  of  Judas  j the  place  where  he  perished  was 
long  pointed  out  and  avoided  as  a field  of  blood. 

The  effect  on  the  Emperor  was  not  so  apparent.  To  the 
warm  appeals  of  the  crowds,  who  called  for  the  restoration  of 

5 The  story  is  related  with  conscientious  care  by  S.  Athanasius  {Op, 
tom.  i.  p.  670),  and  by  Socrates.  Gibbon  remarks  that  “ those  who  press  the 
literal  narrative  must  make  their  option  between  poison  and  miracle'''' ; which 
is  true  enough,  if  by  “ miracle  ” be  understood  merely  a marked  intervention 
of  that  Providence  which  is  present  as  really,  though  not  so  signally,  in  the 
fall  of  sparrows.  Milman,  in  a worse  spirit,  says  of  the  narrative  of  S. 
Athanasius,  ‘‘  His  hollow  charity  ill  disguises  his  secret  triumph  ” ; a cruel 
insinuation,  unwarranted  either  by  the  letter  or  the  spirit  of  the  narrative  in 
question.  S.  Athanasius  earnestly  deprecates  the  idea  that  he  should  “seem 

to  exult  over  the  man’s  death, death  being  conimon  to  all 

men'''';  so  that  Milman’s  sneer  can  be  justified  only  on  the  supposition 
that  the  repeated  and  earnest  disclaimer  is  a deliberate  lie.  If  modern  histo- 
rians, by  the  way,  would  only  extend  to  the  Fathers  a little  of  that  charity 
which  they  are  so  rigorous  in  exacting  of  them,  the  tone  of  history  would  be 
wonderfully  improved. 


4o8 


History  of  the  Church. 


S.  Athanasius,  he  answered  with  a shade  of  sarcasm,  It  is  not 
for  me  to  undo  what  so  many  holy  priests  have  done. 
the  A few  may  have  acted  from  spite  and  jealousy,  but 
Emperor.  ^^re  hard  to  bring  such  a charge  against  them 
all.’’  He  took  care,  however,  to  maintain  that  balance  of 
wrong  which  is  the  tyrant’s  substitute  for  right,  by  banishing 
John,  a Meletian  Bishop,  who  happened  just  then  to  be  the 
most  odious  of  the  intriguing  clergy. 

He  soon  showed,  moreover,  that  he  was  weary  of  the  contest, 
weary  of  efforts  that  led  to  nothing,  weary  even  of  life.  With 
^ that  prophetic  instinct  which  was  one  of  his  gifts,  he 

pares  for  felt,  though  Still  in  good  health  and  unimpaired  vigor, 
that  the  time  had  come  to  set  his  house  in  order,  and 
prepare  for  his  last  account.^  He  completed  the  division  of  the 
Empire  among  his  sons  and  nephews.  That  vision  of  solidarity 
in  Church  and  State,  for  which  he  had  so  passionately  labored, 
had  become  dim  and  broken,  and  now  vanished  altogether  from 
before  his  eyes.  His  gaze  was  fixed,  instead,  upon  an  empty 
tomb,  which  stood,  surrounded  by  twelve  others,  in  the  splendid 
new  church  of  the  Holy  Apostles.  This  he  had  erected  for  his 
own  repose.  It  was  now  solemnly  dedicated,  perhaps  with 
more  seriousness  and  less  adulation,  on  the  part  of  the  court 
clergy,  than  had  been  customary  of  late  on  such  occasions. 
‘‘Happy  Prince!”  one  of  them  had  recently  exclaimed,  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Martyry;  “ blessed  in  this  life  with  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  Roman  world,  destined  to  reign  with  Christ 
through  life  everlasting!  ” But  lies  had  begun  to  pall  upon 
the  imperial  palate  He  rebuked  the  blasphemy  of 
the  reverend  eulogist : a token  that  the  faith  which 
had  been  but  as  “ smoking  flax  ” amid  the  pride  and  pomp  of 
his  over-busy  career,  had  in  it,  nevertheless,  a spark  enkindled 
from  above,  which  neither  the  scandals  of  the  Church,  nor  even 


Flattery 

rebuked. 


^ Eusebius,  in  his  life  of  Constantine,  is  a eulogist : but  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  he  is  guilty  of  any  positive  false  statements.  The  suppressio 
veri  is  his  principal  offence.  For  this  reason  I give  full  credit  to  his  account 
of  the  latter  end  of  Constantine’s  remarkable  career. 


Etisebia^i  Faction,  and  Death  of  Arius.  409 


the  adulation  of  courtly  clergy,  had  been  hble  wholly  to 
extinguish. 

In  this  respect,  the  end  of  Constantine  was  a signal  proof 
of  the  power  and  grace  of  the  Gospel.  He  had  hitherto  not 
only  avoided  baptism,  but  had  not  even  ventured  to  Power  of 
become  a catechumen.  His  hardy  mind  was  free  Gospel, 
enough  in  dealing  with  matters  of  doctrine,  but  a nameless 
dread  had  kept  him  from  profaning  the  sacraments.  He  had 
used  religion  too  much  as  a power  of  State,  but  he  had  not 
failed  to  see  in  it  something  more.  He  now  began  to  fall  back 
upon  these  deeper  views.  Nothing  was  omitted  that 
could  give  seriousness,  earnestness,  publicity,  and  all  man 

1 , /-I  .1.  , . d,  , , humbled. 

outward  show  of  humility  to  his  repentance.  The  world 
saw  in  him  the  spectacle  of  a strong  man  becoming  “ as  a little 
child  a spectacle  the  more  striking  from  the  contrast  afforded 
when  the  news  of  an  invasion  from  the  side  of  Persia  disturbed 
for  a moment  the  tranquillity  of  the  scene,  and  the  old  soldier, 
appearing  in  the  field  once  more,  with  his  accustomed  vigor, 
dissipated  by  his  presence  the  storm  of  war. 

Not  long  after  this,  the  frame  of  the  Emperor  was,  for  the 
first  time,  shaken  by  a serious  illness.  He  made  no  further 
delay  in  his  preparations  for  death,  but  received  the 

End  of 

laying  on  of  hands  which  admitted  him  to  the  grade  Constant m , 
of  catechumens.  He  was  still  well  enough  to  repair  * 
to  church,  and  to  kneel  on  the  bare  pavement,  as  he  poured 
forth  his  confessions  and  earnest  supplications.  These  things 
occurred  during  the  seven  weeks  of  Pentecost.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  same  period  he  was  baptized,  ^ probably  by  Eusebius 
of  Nicomedia,  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Martyrs ; was  arrayed 
in  the  white  robes  of  a neophyte,  declining  to  wear  the  purple 
any  more ; piously  attended  to  such  testamentary  duties  as  still 


7 The  charge  of  “ superstition,”  etc.,  so  often  urged  against  the  early 
Church,  on  account  of  this  and  other  instances  of  the  delay  of  baptism,  would 
be  more  pertinent  if  the  phenomenon  of  late  repentance  were  at  all  peculiar 
to  the  early  Church.  For  I need  hardly  say,  that  late  repentance  is  just  as 
“ superstitious  ” as  late  baptism. 

18 


410  History  of  the  Church. 

remained ; and  departed  about  noon  on  the  closing  day  of  the 
Feast.  ^ 

The  flattery  that  attended  him  through  life  showed  itself 
genuine  by  clinging  for  some  time  to  his  senseless  remains. 
His  Until  his  sons  could  arrive  to  take  charge  of  the 
funeral,  funeral,  he  lay  in  state  in  the  central  apartment  of  the 
palace,  and  the  dukes,  and  counts,  and  dignitaries  of  all  ranks, 
daily  did  obeisance  to  the  coffined  form.  Thus  ‘‘he  continued 
to  reign  even  after  death,  which  was  not  altogether  an  empty 
honor,  for  ordinarily  the  decease  of  a sovereign  was  the  signal 
for  anarchy  to  awaken,  and  for  chronic  revolution  to  shake  the 
Empire. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


CONSTANTIUS. — ARIAN  SECTS  AND  SYMBOLS. 


Few  things  in  history  are  less  attractive  than  the  course  of  a 
Religious  religious  controversy  when  it  has  lost  its  singleness  of 
strife.  ^ question  of  truth ; when  the  current  of  earnest 

inquiry  which  at  first  gave  an  impetus  to  it  branches  into  a hun- 
dred ever-shifting  channels,  converting  society  into  a malarious 
delta,  as  it  were — a monotonous  but  tortuous  waste — of  intrigues, 
plots,  persecutions,  feuds,  and  blind  and  bigoted  displays  of  the 
waywardness  of  human  passion. 

But  such  was  the  aspect  of  the  Arian  strife  as  it  spread 
through  the  world  under  Constantine's  successors.  With  all 
^ the  bitterness,  but  little  of  the  dignity,  of  a religious 

Aspect  of  . . ' , , r 1 . . 1 , 

the  Arian  question,  it  Seemed  a mere  tangle  of  ecclesiastical  and 
state  intrigues : political  passions,  which  had  been 
driven  from  the  swept  and  garnished  house  of  an  overpower- 
ing despotism,  having  returned  under  the  guise  of  a zeal  for 
dogma. 


® Whitsun-Day 


Constantius\  Arian  Sects  and  Symbols.  41 1 

And  this,  in  fact,  was  the  cause  of  many  evils  of  the  times. 
By  a struggle  of  three  hundred  years,  the  Church  had  asserted  a 
freedom  of  thought  and  action  unknown  elsewhere,  church 
Civil  liberty  was  hardly  more  than  dreamed  of ; philo- 
sophic  speculation  had  lost  all  earnestness;  literature 
and  the  arts  could  not  employ,  they  could  only  dissipate,  the 
mind ; the  sole  breath  that  breathed  upon  the  stagnant  waters 
was  that  which  filled  the  sails  of  the  Church — all  other  winds 
were  bound  : so  that  when  good  men  would  look  for  a field  of 
honorable  ambition,  or  when  bad  men  would  use  liberty  for  a 
cloak  of  maliciousness,  they  were  both  alike  compelled  to 
resort  to  the  Church’s  freedom,  and  to  go  about  their  work 
under  the  Church’s  colors.  Hence  a necessary  con-  Necessary 
fusion  of  things  sacred  and  profane.  Hence  a rapid 
reaction  towards  essential  heathenism.  For  it  is  of  the  essence 
of  heathenism  to  make  religion  an  instrument  of  State ; to  sow 
diverse  seeds  in  the  same  field,  to  weave  diverse  materials  into 
the  web  of  the  same  garment.  Believers  were  aware  of  the 
danger  on  this  side,  and  they  struggled  against  it;  but  they 
could  not  escape  it  altogether.  In  the  new  state  of  things,  as  in 
the  old,  there  was  a fond  persistence  in  the  attempt  to 

The  ChuTch 

gather  grapes  of  thorns  and  figs  of  thistles.  The  trees  ^sed  by^  the 
of  the  wood  elected  the  bramble  for  their  king,  and 
thought  to  solace  themselves  beneath  its  shadow.  A half- 
converted  court,  pansebastos — all-worshipful,”  an  object  of 
awful  reverence  to  good  men ; but,  like  all  idols,  a mere  tool 
to  the  wicked  and  designing,  dictated  articles  of  faith  to  the 
Christian  world;  and  self-contradictory  as  the  dictates  were, 
the  majority  of  that  world  seemed  ready  to  receive  them. 

Yet  it  is  important  to  observe,  that  so  far  as  this  end  was 
reached  in  the  confusions  of  the  fourth  century,  it  was  under 
the  auspices  of  heresy,  and  more  particularly  of  Arian-  The  Arian 
ism.  The  side  of  truth  was  the  side  of  opposition  to 
the  court.  The  heretical  party  was  eminently  the  court  party. 
It  so  happened,  therefore,  in  the  good  providence  of  God,  that 
while  persecution  is  peculiar  to  no  creed  or  sect,  but  springs 


412  History  of  the  Church. 

from  infirmities  common  to  human  nature,  yet  the  Church  con- 
Tke  Church  fourth  ceutury,  as  in  the  ages  just  pre- 

stiiia  ceding,  to  be  the  chosen  witness  against  persecution.' 

witness.  i i i i 

She  contended  for  the  liberty,  or,  to  speak  more  cor- 
rectly, for  the  sanctity.^  of  belief.  In  her  new  conflict  against 
heathenism  from  within,  as  in  her  previous  warfare  against 
heathenism  from  without,  the  sign  by  which  she  conquered  was 
that  of  a kingdom  not  of  this  world:  she  vindicated  her  creed, 
as  she  had  established  her  existence,  by  holding  aloof  from  the 
blandishments  of  State  favor,  and  by  a spirited  testimony  against 
subservience  to  State  power. 

A period  involving  such  an  issue  has  a permanent  interest  of 
its  own,  notwithstanding  the  irksomeness  (it  may  be)  of  some 
Subject  of  its  details,  and  the  sad  comments  it  suggests  upon 

tn  Jive  . 11. 

Divisions,  religion  and  human  nature.  To  go  at  length  into 
these  details  is  not  within  the  sco^e  of  the  present  history.  The 
facts  that  seem  most  essential  for  an  understanding  of  the  spirit 
of  the  period  may  be  in  part  summed  up,  and  in  part  narrated, 
under  the  following  general  divisions  : I.  The  Emperors  and  their 
policy;  11.  The  court  party  in  the  Church,  the  Arian  or  Eusebian 
faction;  III.  The  symbols  of  this  party;  IV.  Their  sects  or 
schools;  V.  Their  persecutions,  quarrels,  victory,  and  defeat: 
through  all  which  there  runs,  like  a golden  thread,  the  life  of 
that  noble  confessor,  Athanasius  the  Great,  the  Elijah  of  the  day 
— the  one  among  seven  thousand  who,  in  the  midst  of  a defec- 
tion which  seemed  almost  universal,  bowed  not  the  knee  to 
Baal. 

Of  the  divisions  above  mentioned,  the  first  four  form  the 
Plan  of  this  subject  of  the  present  chapter;  the  fifth  demands  more 
Chapter,  gpace,  and  enters  more  or  less  into  all  the  remainder  of 
this  book. 

* See  the  noble  testimony  of  S.  Athanasius,  Apolog.  pro  fuga.  I cannot 
deny  that  had  circumstances  been  different  the  testimony  might  have  been  dif- 
ferent. As  the  stars  are  visible  in  the  daylight  only  from  the  bottom  of  a well 
or  pit,  so  there  are  some  truths  (and  among  them  the  wisdom  of  tolerance) 
which  can  only  be  discerned  from  the  depths  of  adverse  circumstances. 


Constantins y Arian  Sects  and  Symbols.  413 

Constantine,  before  his  death,  had  provided  for  the  division 
of  the  Empire  among  his  three  sons  and  two  of  his  nephews; 
in  the  actual  partition,  however,  the  nephews  were  i. 
crushed  out  by  a conspiracy,  of  obscure  origin,  among 
the  soldiery.  The  three  brothers,  Constantine,  Constantins,  and 
Constans,  redistributed  the  inheritance  among  themselves.  To 
Constantine  II.,  the  eldest,  fell  the  Gauls  and  borders  Constaniine 
of  the  Rhine,  with  a certain  honorary  preeminence 
which  entitled  him  to  reside  in  Constantinople.  But  a quarrel 
with  Constans  stripped  him  of  his  inheritance  and  life  in  less 
than  four  years,  and  made  the  victor  sole  master  of  Constans^ 
two  thirds  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Ten  years  later  337-350- 
Constans  himself  was  slain  by  the  usurper  Magnentius.  Both 
he  and  his  eldest  brother  had  favored  the  Homoousian  cause, 
though  neither  of  the  two  was  of  a character""  to  reflect  much 
credit  upon  it. 

Constantins,  the  second  and  ablest  of  the  brothers,  a man 
of  diminutive  frame,  but  tough,  laborious,  temperate,  chaste, 
whose  vanity  led  him  to  imitate  his  father  without  a c^nstantius, 
spark  of  his  genius  or  of  his  nobler  traits,^  avenged  the  337*361- 
murder  of  Constans,  overthrew  Magnentius,  and  to  the  no  small 
grief  of  the  Catholics — for  he  was  decidedly  addicted  to  Arian 
views — became  undisputed  sovereign  of  the  East  and  West. 
The  power  thus  acquired  had  been  deeply  stained,  from  the 
outset,  with  the  mark  of  blood.  Directly  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  the  young  prince  had  conceded  to  the  clamors  of  the 
soldiery,  and  perhaps  instigated  the  murder  of  his  two  uncles, 
seven  cousins,  and  sundry  other  persons  connected  by  marriage 
or  blood  with  the  imperial  family.  Gallus  and  Julian,  the  two 
youngest  children  of  Julius  Constantius,  were  the  only  members 
of  the  family  that  escaped.  The  rest  of  the  reign  of  Constantius 
was  worthy  of  such  a beginning.  It  was  a period  of  intrigue  and 


*S.  Athanasius  speaks  well  of  Constans,  but  the  pagan  historians 
(Zosimus  more  especially)  accuse  him  of  gross  sensuality.  . 

3 For  the  testimonies  of  contemporaries  (orthodox,  Arian,  and  pagan)  to 
the  character  of  these  Emperors,  see  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs. 


414 


History  of  the  Church. 

misrule,  distinguished  by  an  excess  of  female  influence,^  and  by 
an  unprecedented  growth  of  those  parasites  that  feed  on  the 
Eunuchs  of  lazy  dignity  of  Oriental  despotism,  the  eunuchs  of  the 
the  Palace.  This  class  of  favorites,  the  types  in  all  ages 

of  insolence,  obsequiousness,  craft,  and  cruelty,  had  been  re- 
pressed by  the  vigor  of  Constantine ; but  his  successor  found 
them  indispensable  to  his  comfort,  put  all  things  into  their 
hands,  and  with  their  chief,  the  celebrated  chamberlain  Euse- 
bias,  he  was  wittily  declared  to  possess  some  credit. 

Next  to  these  slaves,  the  prelates  of  the  Eusebian  faction 
were  his  principal  directors.  Having  once  gained  his  ear,  and 

II,  that  of  the  eunuchs  and  court  ladies,  a matter  easily 
oFTi^E^^  effected  by  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,^  they  resolved 
Eusebians.  themselves  into  a sort  of  roving  commission  for  the 
redress  of  ecclesiastical  abuses ; holding  synods,  framing  new 
creeds  and  canons,  deposing  Bishops  who  withstood  them, 
flocking  from  place  to  place — to  the  no  small  detriment,  it  was 
said,  of  the  postal  service^ — and  making  the  Church  a scandal 
to  the  heathen  world.  The  Emperor  is  described  as  chief  busy- 
body of  this  busy  clique ; the  Bishop  of  Bishops,*/  his  flatterers 
profanely,  but  not  inappropriately,  called  him.  His  father*s 

weakness  for  theologic  fame  was  exaggerated  in  him  to 

Weakness  . 

of  constan-  a mere  insanity.  While  aiming  to  make  his  own  views 
a law  to  the  Church,  he  shifted  uneasily  from  one 
position  to  another ; so  that  his  days  were  taken  up,  it  was 
said,  and  his  sleep  went  from  him,  in  the  making  or  unrpaking 
of  new  modes  of  faith. 

The  ambiguous  confession  of  Arius,  upon  the  strength  of 
which  he  had  been  received  at  Jerusalem,  Tyre,  and  Constanti- 

III.  nople,  was  found,  on  further  trial,  to  be  unsatisfactory. 
Creeds  It  was  not  a creed  that  could  fill  either  the  hearts  or 
Councils,  the  mouths  of  a Christian  people.  Taking  advantage, 

4 Which  influence,  in  the  case  of  the  accomplished  Empress  Eusebia, 
seems^to  have  mitigated  somewhat  the  Emperor’s  cruelty.  Tillemont,  Hist, 
des  Emp.  tom.  iv.  p.  750.  sTheod.  ii.  3. 

^ Ammianus  Marcellinus,  quoted  by  Tillemont,  Gibbon,  Gieseler,  etc. 


Constantins,  Arian  Sects  and  Symbols.  415 

therefore,  of  a great  throng  of  Bishops  assembled  at  Antioch  for 
the  dedication  of  a sumptuous  new  building,  called  the  Golden 
Church, 7 the  dominant  party  in  the  East  put  forth  Antioch^ 
another  and  fuller  confession ; but  this  also  failing  of  Domiliutim 
its  purpose,  they  ventured  on  another,  and  then  still 
another,  till  five  creeds,  in  all,  attested  the  activity  of  the 
Synod,  and  their  eagerness  to  harmonize,  if  possible,  all  shades 
of  taste  and  opinion.  Ten  years  later,  many  minor  synods 
having  met  the  meanwhile,  the  same  class  of  prelates  came  to- 
gether again  in  a numerous  council  at  Sirmium.  Their  sirmium, 
immediate  object  was  to  condemn  Photinus,  a disciple 
of  Marcellus  of  Ancyra,  who  had  developed  the  heresy  attrib- 
uted to  his  master,  and  openly  taught  that  the  Son,  before  the 
Incarnation,  had  no  personal  existence,  but  was  only  the  Word 
immanent  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father.  In  condemning  him, 
they  framed  and  set  forth  two  new  symbols,  the  longer  of  which 
contains  twenty-six  anathemas.  Eight  years  later  a seieuda^ 
new  set  of  creeds  was  issued  from  Seleucia ; and  after 
two  years,  another  from  Antioch,  of  a totally  different  descrip- 
tion. Of  the  whole  number  of  confessions  thus  put  in  Antioch, 
circulation  from  time  to  time,  and  constituting  what 
Socrates  appropriately  calls  ^‘the  labyrinth*’  of  Arian  doctrine, 
about  eighteen  can  be  distinguished  at  the  present  day  \ ® though 
there  were  doubtless  many  more  that  have  left  no  record. 

Athanasius,  with  the  grim  humor  that  occasionally  enlivens  the 
severity  of  his  style,  sternly  ridicules  these  dated  creeds.^  vated 
The  heretics,  he  said,  were  obliged  to  affix  to  their  con-  Creeds. 
fessions  the  day  and  year  of  their  issue,  that  men  might  know  when 
their  faith  began  and  when  it  ended.  To  a modern  reader  it 
is  equally  remarkable  that  the  Eusebians,  who  were  liberals  ” 
in  matters  of  faith,  went  beyond  all  others  in  shutting  up  to  one 

7 This  Synod  of  the  Dedication  has  always  been  held  in  high  honor  by 
the  East,  notwithstanding  the  deficiencies  of  its  creeds. 

® Tillemont,  Mem.  p.  servir,  vi.  2,  cii. 

9 Select  Treatises  of  S.  Athanasius,  Oxford  Lib.  of  the  Fathers,  part  i. 
pp.  73-128.  See,  also,  Socrat.  ii.  37. 


4i6 


History  of  the  Church. 


Their 

evasive 

character. 


meaning  the  text  of  Scripture,  anathematizing  all  differences  of 
interpretation.  Thus,  to  quote  one  instance  from  the  longer 
creed  of  Sirmium,  Whosoever  shall  say  that  Let  us  make 
7nau  was  not  said  by  the  Father  to  the  Son, 
let  him  be  anathema.**  We  may  also  observe  that 
among  the  variations  of  Eusebian  creeds  there  w^as  but 
one,*°  and  that  one  speedily  retracted,  which  opefily  impugned 
the  Deity  of  the  Son  of  God.  The  common  aim  of  all  would 
seem  to  have  been,  while  surpassing  the  Nicene  formula  itself 
in  fervid  declarations  of  the  glory  of  Christ  as  God,  yet  to 
avoid  the  use  of  any  word  which  could  not  be  interpreted  in 
another  sense.  They  omitted,  of  course,  the  term  consub- 
stantial.**  Simply  defective  and  evasive,  they  insinuated  heresy, 
but  could  hardly  be  said  to  confess  it. 

But  in  the  worst  of  times  there  is  honest  error  as  well  as 
honest  regard  for  the  truth.  Eusebian  evasions  could  not  be 
satisfactory  to  either  of  these.  From  the  attraction 
towards  the  Nicene  faith  on  the  one  side,  and  a fierce 
repulsion  on  the  other,,  sects  and  schools  arose  among  the 
Arians,”  the  principal  of  which  may  be  described  as  follows : 

The  Eastern  clergy  generally  were  orthodox  in  spirit,  but 
courtly,  prudent,  deferential  to  superiors,  anxious  for  peace  at 
The  SemU  3.ny  price,  and  disposed  to  regard  the  Homoousion  as  a 
artans.  ncedless  bone  of  contention.  They  therefore  availed 
themselves  readily  of  the  term  Honioiousion ; a word  suscepti- 
Their  t)le,  it  was  thought,  of  an  equally  orthodox  meaning, 
Symbol.  while  it  was  not  so  obnoxious  to  the  friends  of  Arius. 
In  the  same  way,  they  abhorred  the  idea  that  ‘‘once  the  Son 
was  not,**  but  dreaded  the  seeming  paradox  of  the  phrase  “Be- 
gotten without  beginning.**  It  seemed  enough  for  them  to 
declare  that  He  was  “begotten  before  all  time.**  These  be- 
came known  as  the  Semiarians — a school  which  proved  but  as 

*oThis  creed,  framed  at  Sirmium  (a.d.  357),  signed  by  Hosius,  and  in 
A.D.  361  adopted  at  Antioch,  anathematized  both  the  homo  and  the  homoi- 


Arian 

Sects. 


^ Newman’s  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century. 


Constantins^  Arian  Sects  and  Symbols.  417 

wax  in  the  hands  of  the  Eusebian  leaders,  but  which  atoned  for 
the  logical  deficiencies  of  their  creed  by  a rhetorical  profusion 
of  terms  of  honor  to  the  Son,  surpassing  the  Catholics  them- 
selves in  the  fervor  and  brilliancy  of  their  ascriptions.  Basil 
of  Ancyra  was  one  of  their  purest  and  most  learned  men.  S. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem  was  a better  type  of  the  school:  cyriiof 
a man  too  facile  and  addicted  to  the  Oriental  vice  of 
obsequiousness,**  but  eloquent,  learned,  and  favorably  known  to 
posterity  for  his  admirable  Discourses  to  Catechumens.  In  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  he  quarrelled  with  Acacius  of  Caesarea, 
the  leader  of  one  wing  of  the  Eusebian  party,  and  suffered  de- 
position and  other  persecutions,  which  brought  him  to  greater 
soundness  and  firmness  in  the  faith.  Similar  causes  had  a like 
good  effect  on  many  of  the  Semiarian  leaders. 

A more  plausible  ground  was  taken  by  Acacius,  the  learned 
disciple  and  successor  of  Eusebius  of  Caesarea.  He  thought  it 
best  to  avoid  the  term  ousia,  ‘^substance,”  and  was 

Homceans 

content  to  say  that  the  Son  is  homoion^  like,’'  or  hata  . 

^cactans, 

panta  homoion^  ‘‘altogether  like,”  unto  the  Father. 

This  being  Scriptural  in  language,  it  was  hard  to  deem  it  other- 
wise than  sound  in  meaning.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  signed  it  with 
some  reservations,*^  and  there  were  others  who  thought  it  quite 
equivalent  to  the  Nicene  symbol.  It  was  intended,  however, 
as  a cover  for  freedom  of  unbelief ; and  its  supporters,  known 
under  the  name  of  Eusebians,  Acacians,  or  Homoeans,  proved 
to  be  the  craftiest  of  all  the  Arian  sects. 

Aetius,  a self-made  man,  clear-sighted,  hardy,  irreverential, 
and  intellectually  honest,  rose,  by  his  vigorous  logic, *^ 

T-  ••  r -I  , Anomoeans 

to  the  position  of  a master  in  the  Eusebian  schools,  . or 

shattered  the  evasive  definitions  of  more  cautious  teach- 
ers, and  took  his  stand  upon  simple  and  original  Arianism. 

*2  That  is,  if  the  Epistle  to  Constantius  be  his,  of  which,  however,  we 
may  fairly  entertain  a doubt. 

*3  He  explained  that  by  ‘‘  like  ” he  understood  like  in  essence.” 

According  to  Philostorgius,  he  was  an  invincible  debater,  ^o  man  of 
his  day  could  stand  before  him.  iii,  15. 

18* 


41 8 History  of  the  Church. 

He  contended  that  the  Son  is  anotnoion^  ‘‘altogether  unlike*’ 
the  Father.  “The  Father  is  irreligious,  the  Son  religious,” 
said  Eudoxius,  one  of  his  disciples,  to  the  people  of 

Eudoxius,  ^ 

Constantinople  <<  for  the  Father  worships  no  one, 
but  the  Son  worships  the  Father.**  Aetius  was  scouted  by  the 
court  as  an  “Atheist.**  His  followers  were  called  Anomoeans, 
Aetians,  Eudoxians,  or  sometimes  Eunomians ; the  last  name 
being  taken  from  Eunomius,  their  most  learned  and  polished 
leader. 

Such  were  the  parties  that  successively  arose  from  a common 
ground  of  hostility  to  the  Nicene  faith,  or  from  jealousy  and 
Their  distrust  of  S.  Athanasius.  They  existed  all  along 
common  under  the  general  name  of  Arians,  or  Eusebians  ; but 

ground. 

towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Constantins  they  sep- 
arated more  and  more  into  mutually  hostile  sects.  The  Aetians, 
it  is  said,"^  were  the  first  that  broke  off  into  a close  communion. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CONSTANTIUS. ARIAN  PERSECUTIONS. 


The  accession  of  the  sons  of  Constantine  led  at  first  to  a respite 
sEcuTirN*^’  persecution.  Athanasius  and  other  exiled  Bishops 
\.D.  338.  returned  to  their  sees. 

But  the  Council  of  Antioch,  commonly  known  as  that  of  the 
Dedication,  protested  against  their  return,  as  a breach 
of  order.  A Bishop  duly  deposed  could  be  restored 
only  by  such  a body  as  that  which  had  deposed 
him.  The  plea  was  plausible  enough  ; but  it  was 
vitiated  by  the  fact  that  the  Easterns  in  this  case  had 
not  only  neglected  to  consult  the  Westerns'  in  the  first  instance. 


Council  at 
A ntioch 
and  second 
exile  of 
A thana~ 
sius, 

A.D.  341. 


*5  Socrat.  ii.  43.  Philostorg.  iii.  14. 

*The  words  of  Julius  of  Rome,  misunderstood  by  Socrates  {Hist.  ii.  17), 


Constantins^  Arian  Persecutions.  419 

but  afterwards,  when,  at  their  own  request,  a new  and  special 
council  was  holden  in  Italy,  they  had  declined  appearing  at  it. 
It  was  manifest,  therefore,  that  they  were  averse  to  a fair  trial 
of  the  cases  in  dispute.  They  had  on  their  side,  however,  the 
authority  of  Constantius.  The  persecuted  primate  was  again 
driven  from  Alexandria,  and  at  the  cost  of  riots  and  massacres 
and  sacrilege  without  end,  a certain  Gregory  was  installed  in 
the  vacant  see. 

Rome  now  became  the  city  of  refuge  to  all  who  suffered 
for  the  Nicene  faith. ^ Constans  was  friendly  to  them ; Pope 
Julius  embraced  their  cause  with  ardor.  In  a few  years  the  city 
was  full  of  exiles.  Marcellus  of  Ancyra,  whose  doubt-  Exiles  in 
ful  orthodoxy  was  upheld  by  Athanasius — a man  ever  Rome, 
slow  to  think  evil  of  a friend  ; Paul  of  Constantinople,  five  times 
driven  from  his  see ; Lucius  of  Hadrianople,  Hellanicus  of  Tri- 
polis,  and  innumerable  others.  Bishops  and  presbyters  of  Thrace, 
Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Palestine,  bore  witness  in 
Rome  and  to  the  West  of  the  outrages  inflicted  by  episcopal  and 
other  tyrants. 

Nor  were  their  complaints  unheeded  in  the  Western  court. 
Athanasius  followed  Constans  from  one  capital  to  another,  and 
seven  times  at  least  he  pleaded  before  him  the  cause  of 

. . . Council  of 

the  suffering  Churches.  His  arguments  and  petitions  Sardica, 
at  length  prevailed. ^ Constans,  with  the  consent  or  * * 
acquiescence  of  Constantius,  summoned  a great  council  of  the 
East  and  West  to  meet  at  Sardica,  a town  that  lay  convenient  to 
both  parties  on  the  eastern  border  of  his  dominions.  The 

are  these : Are  you  ignorant  of  the  custom  that  we  should  be  written  to^  and 
thereupon  should  be  determined  what  is  right?”  So  again:  According  to 
ecclesiastical  law  we  ought  all  to  be  written  to,”  etc.  Ap.  Athanas.  Apolog, 
ii.;  see  notes  of  Valesius  and  Lowth  to  Socrat.  ii.  17.  The  meaning  is,  that 
in  matters  concerning  the  whole  Church — such  as  the  trial  of  a chief  Bishop — 
all  the  Bishops,  the  Roman  included,  ought  to  be  heard. 

^Theod.  ii.  4;  Sozom.  iii.  7-10 ; Socrat.  ii.  6,  7,  8,  10,  ii,  13,  15. 

3 Philostorgius  (iii.  13)  says  that  bribery  was  used:  an  accusation  always 
resorted  to  in  such  cases. 


420 


History  of  the  Church. 


council  met,  but  the  Bishops  separated.  The  Westerns  assumed, 
Schism  length  declared,  the  innocence  of  Athanasius, 

begun  Marcellus,  and  Asclepas  of  Gaza : the  Easterns,  deeply 
aggrieved,  and  apparently  not  without  reason,^  retired  to  Philip- 
popolis,^  and  vehemently  protested.  Doctrinal  differences  were 
between  the  aggravated  by  misunderstandings  on  both  sides.  The 
consequence  was  a schism  between  the  two  great  sec- 
tions ; or  a series,  rather,  of  mutual  anathemas,  which  put  each 
half  of  the  Church  under  the  spiritual  censures  of  the 
West.  other  half,  and  introduced  the  wedge  of  an  ever- 
increasing  separation. 

But  Constans  had  made  up  his  mind  to  carry  out  the  decrees 
of  Sardica,  and  intimated  as  much  to  his  brother  in  the  East. 
Athanasius  letter  was  alarmed.  Quite  a panic  ensued  among 
restored,  the  eunuchs,  women,  and  Bishops,  who  composed  his 
court.  It  was  necessary  to  propitiate  a power  they 
were  unable  to  resist ; and  Gregory,  the  intruding  Bishop  of 
Alexandria,  having  opportunely  died,  the  way  seemed  open 
to  secure  the  good  offices  of  Athanasius.  He  was  not  per- 
mitted only,  but  urged,  to  return.  Three  pressing  invitations 
were  sent  him  from  the  court;  and  when  at  length  he  con- 
His  sented,  his  journey  through  Syria  and  Palestine^ — to 
« eicome.  nothing  of  his  reception  in  Egypt — was  signalized 
by  ovations  and  unqualified  submissions.  Constantins  dealt 
with  him  as  with  a prince  and  peer.  Condescending  to  ask  the 
loan  of  one  church  in  Alexandria  for  the  use  of  the  Arians,  he 
was  obliged  to  put  up  with  a refusal : the  Bishop  would  not 
grant  it,  unless  a like  favor  should  be  accorded  to  the  Catholics 
at  Antioch.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  in  vain  that  Athanasius 
begged  the  Emperor  to  confront  him  with  his  accusers.  No 
accusers  could  be  found.  ‘^If  any  such  there  be,*'  said  the 


^ Sozom.  iii.  13.  The  West  was  manifestly  averse  to  put  Athanasius  on 
trial:  which  did  not  seem  fair,  as  he  had  been  accused  and  condemned  (how- 
ever unrighteously)  by  councils  of  high  character. 

5 Their  action,  however,  is  dated  from  Sardica.  See  Cave’s  Life  of  S. 
Athanas.  sect.  vii.  6. 


Constantins^  Arian  Persecutions. 


421 


Emperor,  I call  God  to  witness  that  I will  not  listen  to  them.*' 
Indeed,  Ursacius  and  Valens,  who  had  been  hitherto  the  most 
bitter  of  their  number,  wrote  a solemn  retractation  of  all  that  had 
been  said  against  the  saint,  declaring  in  plain  terms  that  lies  and 
forgeries  were  at  the  bottom  of  it  all. 

The  death  of  Constans  and  the  establishment  of  the  power 
of  Constantins  in  the  West,  shortly  revealed  the  hollowness 
of  these  professions.  The  ruin  of  the  great  Primate  sudden 
was  again  determined  on ; but  the  influence  he  had 
gained  in  all  quarters,  and  the  hold  he  had  upon  the  people  of 
Alexandria,  inspired  a wholesome  terror  in  the  councils  of  Con- 
stantins, and  made  it  necessary  to  proceed  with  a certain  caution. 
There  were  outworks  to  be  carried  before^  the  citadel  could  be 
attempted.  Accordingly,  the  first  step  of  the  Emperor,  after 
the  death  of  his  brother,  was  to  assure  Athanasius  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  favor. 

In  other  cases,  there  was  no  such  reason  for  delay.  Pho- 
tinus,  in  a council  at  Sirmium,  already  mentioned,  was  tried 
and  deposed : a condemnation  particularly  valuable 
to  the  Eusebians,  as  the  heresy  of  that  Bishop  could  be  ^ renewed^ 
made  to  reflect  upon  Marcellus,  his  master ; upon  Atha- 
nasius,  the  firm  friend  of  the  latter ; and  upon  the  council  of 
Sardica,  which  had  stood  by  them  both.  Another  step  was 
gained  when  Ursacius  and  Valens  were  induced  to  retract  their 
retractation.  The  old  charges  being  thus  revived,  a few  others 
were  added,  and  the  whole  batch  was  lodged  with  Liberius,  who 
had  succeeded  Pope  Julius  in  the  See  of  Rome.  In  the  mean- 
time the  work  of  proscription  and  persecution  was  vigorously 
going  on  : trials,  depositions,  tortures,  exiles,  the  madness  of  the 
people,  the  ruthless  infatuation  of  priests  and  rulers.  Constanti- 
nople especially  was  the  scene  of  outrages  disgraceful  to  human 
nature  Paul  the  Bishop,  who  had  been  restored  at  the  same  time 
with  Athanasius,  had  to  yield  once  more  to  Mace-  paui  0/ 
donius,  his  Arian  rival ; was  inveigled  away  from  the 
city;  and  was  finally  strangled  at  Cucusus  a town  of 
Cappadocia.  The  capital  was  in  a ferment  of  rage  and  grief. 


422 


History  of  the  Church. 

Macedohius  could  govern  only  with  the  sword ; and,  as  usual 
when  spiritual  men  are  intrusted  with  carnal  weapons,  he  used 
it  awkwardly,  and  with  senseless  cruelty/  There  was  a butchery 
^ . ^of  some  three  thousand  persons.  There  were  tor- 

Cruelties  of  ^ ^ 

Macedo-  tures  Unheard  of  in  Decian  or  Dioclesian  times.  The 
breasts  of  women  were  burnt  with  hot  eggs  or  com- 
pressed with  wooden  pincers ; children  were  torn  from  the  arms 
of  their  mothers  and  baptized  by  force ; the  Eucharist  was 
crammed  down  the  throats  of  recusants ; churches  were  de- 
stroyed or  pillaged ; towns  were  sacked  and  depopulated ; crowds 
of  Novatian  peasantry,  who  made  common  cause  with  the  Cath- 
olics, armed  themselves  with  the  weapons  of  despair  and  routed 
the  disciplined  legions  that  had  been  sent  against  them : in 
short,  the  rule  of  Macedonius  became  a byword  of  terror ; 
tyranny  and  rebellion  were  mutually  enkindled  to  the  point  of 
frenzy;  and  the  most  eminent  heathen  historian  of  the  times 
was  fully  warranted  in  exclaiming,  No  beast  is  so  cruel  to 
man  as  many  of  the  Christians  are  to  one  another.^* 

The  subjugation  of  the  Western  Church  was  marked  by  fewer 
atrocities,  but,  for  the  time  being,  with  a greater  measure  of 
Persecution  success.  Condemn  Athanasius  or  give  up  your  sees 
tn  the  West.  usual  alternative  to  the  Bishops.  Among  the 

eminent  clergy,  Vincentius  of  Arles  succumbed:  Paulinus  of 
Treves  resisted.  But  in  a numerous  council  at  Milan,  holden 
Councils  of  the  eye  of  the  Emperor  and  consisting  of  three 

idiUn^^  hundred  prelates,  defection  proved  contagious  and  was 
A.D. 353-355.  almost  universal;  only  a few,  such  as  Dionysius  of 
Milan,  Eusebius  of  Vercellae,  and  Lucifer  of  Cagliari,  embraced 
the  alternative  of  exile.  The  cause  of  these  confessors  was  vig- 
orously taken  up  by  S.  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  ‘‘the  trumpet  of  the 
s.  Hilary  Latius  agaiust  Ariauism. ' * A convert  from  philosophy, 
0/ Poitiers,  eminent  man  had  been  led  into  the  Church  by 

private  and  diligent  study  of  the  Scriptures;  but  his  fervid 
genius,  compared  by  the  ancients  to  the  swift  and  turbid  course 


^ Socrat.  ii.  37,  38. 


Constantins,  Arian  Persecutions. 


423 


of  the  river  Rhone,  had  (notwithstanding  his  ignorance  of 
Greek)  enriched  his  mind  with  ‘^the  spoils  of  the  Egyptians,^* 
so  that  he  was  fitted  by  education,  as  well  as  by  nature  and 
grace,  for  the  honorable  position  of  a Gallic  Athanasius — an  up- 
holder and  in  due  time  a restorer  of  orthodoxy.  For  the  present, 
however,  his  eloquent  appeals  to  Constantins  served  only  to  win 
him  a place  among  those  whom  he  so  generously  defended. 

The  sad  overthrow  of  so  many  of  the  Westerns  was  of  course 
not  effected  without  threats  and  violence.  It  is  not  to  be  de- 
nied, however,  that  the  weapons  most  complained  of  rhe 

by  orthodox  writers  showed  more  of  the  serpent  than 
of  the  wolf,  in  the  Emperor’s  proceedings.  He  some- 
times  persecuted  by  declining  to  persecute.  As  S.  Hilary  elo- 
quently complained, 7 he  tickled  the  palates  of  his  victims  instead 
of  flaying  their  backs  ; he  invited  them  to  dinner  instead  of 
sending  them  to  jail ; he  used  gold  instead  of  iron,  sunshine 
instead  of  flames  : in  short,  when  he  found  them  all  cloaked 
and  muffled  up  against  an  expected  storm,  he  uncloaked  them 
by  the  warmth  of  his  flattery  and  caresses.  The  consequence 
was  that  many  of  those  who  lapsed  ‘‘had  no  circumstance  to 
plead  in  extenuation  of  their  guilt  ’ ’ ; they  could  only  bewail 
the  power  of  “Judas  kisses  and  Judas  sops,”  or  of  “wolves 
that  enticed  them  from  the  fold  by  coming  in  sheep’s  clothing.” 

The  crowning  success  of  his  guile  was  in  the  lamentable  fall 
of  Liberius  of  Rome,  and  Hosius  of  Cordova.  The  former, 
when  brought  to  Milan,  resisted  all  efforts  to  over-  paiiof 
throw  him,  with  sufficient  firmness  on  his  own  part,  Liberius 

, . ^ ^ 0/ Rome. 

and  with  more  than  sufficient  zeal  against  the  weaker 
brethren.  He  was  banished  to  Beroea,  a town  in  Thrace. 
There  two  years’  experience  of  the  hardships  of  exile,  with  the 
solicitations  of  friends,  the  seductions  of  enemies,  and  the  spe- 
cious desire  of  restoring  peace  at  Rome — for  the  people  in  that 
city  were  in  a state  of  riotous  indignation  against  Felix,  the 


7 Quoted  in  full  by  Tillemont,  VI.  2,  liv. 

® Sozom.  iv.  II,  15;  T\\\&caoxii,  ArianSf  sect.  Ixix ; Newman’s  yirfdiwj-, 
etc.,  chap.  iv.  sect,  iii. 


424 


History  of  the  Church, 


Arian  intruder: — all  this  so  shook  his  resolution  that  he  re- 
nounced S.  Athanasius,  signed  the  Sirmium  confession,  wrote 
abject  letters  to  the  Emperor  and  the  Eastern  Bishops,  and, 
finally,  anathematized  all  who  should  refuse  to  follow  his  ex- 
ample. His  enemies  delayed  his  restoration  till  he  should  drink 
the  bitter  cup  to  the  dregs.  They  were  also  anxious  to  make 
terms  in  behalf  of  Felix,  but  this  the  Romans  would  not  hear 
of.  ‘‘One  God,  one  Christ,  one  Bishop,**  was  their  answer  to 
every  proposition  for  a divided  see. 

The  venerable  Hosius,  now  an  hundred  and  one  years  old, 
after  a noble  testimony  in  a letter  to  Constantins,  which  still 
Fall  of  remains,^  was  at  length  tortured  into  signing  the  most 
Hosius.  malignant  of  the  Arian  Creeds,  and  into  an  act  of  com- 
munion with  Ursacius  and  Valens,  the  most  odious  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Arian  party : the  further  guilt  of  condemning  S.  Atha- 
nasius he  seems  to  have  steadily  declined.  His  end,  however, 
is  involved  in  a cloud  of  conflicting  rumors. 

Athanasius  was  thus  universally  condemned,  forsaken,  or 
stripped  by  violence  of  his  friends  and  allies."  It  only  re- 
Athanasius  mained  to  get  possession  of  his  person.  For  this  the 
forsaken,  world  condescended  to  use  stratagem  as 

well  as  force,  laying  his  plans  with  a secrecy  and  skill  that 
showed  his  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  object. 

On  the  night  of  the  eighth  of  February,”  the  year  that  fol- 
lowed the  Council  of  Milan,  the  Saint  was  keeping  vigil  with 
Attempted  ^ congregation,  in  the  Church  of  S.  Theonas, 

when  suddenly  the  Duke  Syrianus,  at  the  head  of  a 
force  of  more  than  five  thousand  men,  penetrated  the 
suburbs  of  the  slumbering  city : silently  posted  a guard  at  each 
avenue  leading  from  the  church ; and,  bursting  open  the  doors, 
hurled  a tumultuous  mass  of  soldiery  into  the  body  of  the  sacred 

9 St.  Athanas.  Hist.  Arian.  ad  Monach.  xliv. 

See  Tillemont,  tom.  vii.  part  2. 

**  The  events  last  described  partly  preceded,  partly  followed,  the  attack 
upon  Athanasius. 

*2  St.  Athanas.  Apolog.  pro  fugd. 


Constantins,  Arian  Persecutions. 


425 


His  escape. 


building.  There  was  an  outcry  of  shouts  and  groans,  a flight 
of  deadly  arrows,  with  ‘^swords  flashing  in  the  lamplight,’^  a 
swaying  to  and  fro  of  the  excited  crowd.  The  Archbishop  sat 
calmly  on  his  throne  in  the  sanctuary,  and  bade  his  deacon  read 
the  one  hundred  and  thirty-sixth  Psalm.  High  above  the  tumult 
rang  the  inspiriting  strain.  For  His  mercy  endureth  forever,  the 
people  the  meanwhile  saving  themselves  as  they  could,  and  the 
military  thrusting,  stabbing,  pushing,  and  trampling  down  all 
before  them  as  they  pressed  in  broken  ranks  towards  the  Altar. 
The  Bishop  refused  to  leave  his  place,  lest  the  baffled  wrath 
of  the  intruders  should  fall  more  violently  upon  the  people. 
‘‘Better  risk  myself,’*  he  declared,  “than  occasion 
mischief  to  them.”  At  length  he  was  swept  away, 
fainting,  in  a sort  of  eddy,  by  the  increasing  pressure  of  the 
crowd ; was  carried,  he  knew  not  whither ; and  on  recovering, 
found  himself  in  a place  of  secresy  and  safety. 

For  six  years  after  this  he  remained  concealed  from  his 
enemies,  with  a price  set  upon  his  head,  sought  for  everywhere 
by  the  Ahab  of  the  day,  and  followed  by  a flood  of  His 

vindictive  calumny. But  the  popular  heart  was 
with  him  in- his  retirement,  and,  as  is  not  unusual  in  such  cases, 
assigned  him  lurking-places  of  the  most  improbable  description. 
Thus,  he  lay  for  years,  it  was  said,  in  a dry  cistern;  or,  again, 
he  was  hidden  and  attended  by  a devout  and  beautiful  young  vir- 
gin stories  that  have  a certain  value  as  showing  the  confi- 
dence men  felt  in  his  matchless  powers  of  endurance,  or  in  his 
childlike  purity  of  soul,  but  are  entitled  to  little  or  no  Hisac^ 
credit  as  matters  of  fact.  It  is  more  certain  that  he 
occasionally  resorted  to  Alexandria  and  other  busy  haunts ; 


*3  By  his  flight,  it  was  said,  he  had  confessed  his  guilt : a charge  which 
brought  out  his  Apolog.  pro  fugd. 

'4  This  story  was  related  by  the  virgin,  fifty  years  after,  to  Palladius,  Bp. 
of  Helenopolis. — Ballad.  Hist.  Lusiac.  135.  It  is  remarkable,  by  the  way, 
that  S.  Athanasius  (in  his  Apolog.  pro  fugd)  mentions  a scandal  of  the  same 
sort  against  Leontius,  an  Arian  : a thing  he  would  hardly  have  done  had  he 
himself  been  in  the  same  case. 


426  History  of  the  Church. 

and  more  especially,  that  he  was  present  in  disguise  at  the 
great  Council  of  Ariminum.  His  writings  during  this  period 
show  that  he  was  well  informed  of  all  that  was  going  forward, 
and  that  he  was  in  no  danger  of  being  forgotten  by  friend  or  foe. 

He  had  a sturdy  body-guard,  equally  vigilant  and  incorrup- 
tible, in  the  monks  of  Upper  Egypt ; and  it  was  doubtless  in 
Nis  abode  Congenial  society  that  the  greater  part  of  his 

amonethe  exilc  was  SDcnt.  To  these  simple  men  Athanasius  was 
the  model  of  a saint  and  Bishop.  He  could  not  only 
sympathize  with  them,  but  could  take  more  than  an  equal  part 
in  their  labors  and  exercises.  He  came  among  them,  moreover, 
Deatk  of  3,t  a happy  time.  Their  venerable  leader,  S.  Antony, 
.S’.  Antony.  departed  to  his  rest,  in  the  one  hundred  and 

fifth  year  of  his  life,  bequeathing  all  his  property,  a garment 
and  sheepskin,  to  Bishop  Athanasius,’^  and  predicting — what 
shortly  came  to  pass — a period  of  sacrilege  and  confusion  in  the 
Church  of  God  : he  had  seen  in  a vision  a herd  of  mules 
kicking  at  the  Table  of  the  Lord,”*^  he  had  heard  a voice  cry- 
ing, ‘‘My  Altar  shall  be  made  an  abomination]”  With  such 
predictions  the  saint  had  gone  away  from  hiS  “children”  and 
had  left  them  orphans.  But  when,  shortly  after,  there  appeared 
among  them  the  slight  form  and  angel  face  of  their  great  Alex- 
andrian father,  it  seemed  as  if  Heaven  had  recompensed  them 
for  all  their  loss.  There  were  accordingly  no  bounds  to  their 
affectionate  devotion.  In  vain  Constantins  sent  band  after  band 
into  the  desert  to  seize  “the  troubler  of  Israel,”  to  hunt  the 
“partridge  upon  the  mountains.”  It  was  easy  to  break  up  the 
nest,  but  the  bird  had  flown.  In  vain  torture  was  resorted  to : 
the  sufferers  were  Egyptians  as  well  as  monks,  and  it  was  im- 
possible to  extract  a groan  from  them,  much  less  a word  of  infor- 
mation. They  silently  stretched  out  their  necks  to  the  sword, 
and  the  soldiers  had  to  search  for  other  victims. 

Among  such  men  Athanasius  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
tyrant’s  power.  What  is  more,  he  lay  beyond  the  reach  of  that 


*5  Sozom.  vi.  5. 


Constantins,  Arian  Persecutions. 


427 


Misrule 
in  Alex- 
andria, 


bitterness  of  soul,  so  often  the  lot  of  exiles  for  opinion’s  sake, 
and  which  so  often  sours  into  an  habitually  querulous  security 
and  despondent  temper.  Nothing  was  more  remarka-  serenUy 
ble  in  this  great  man  than  the  serenity  with  which  he 
witnessed,  and  so  far  as  possible  excused,  the  treachery,  the 
weakness,  the  timid  and  time-serving  spirit,  of  the  majority  of 
his  friends.  There  have  been  men  in  all  ages  who  have  stood 
alone  : it  was  the  privilege  of  S.  Athanasius  that  his  solitude  was 
cheered  by  unfailing  sunshine.  He  lived  in  a sphere  to  which 
doubt,  mistrust,  and  disappointment  could  win  no  access. 

Alexandria,  the  meanwhile,  was,  like  all  the  orthodox  cities, 
a prey  to  popular  disorder  and  fierce  misrule.*^  The  Catholics 
tried  in  vain,  by  two  appeals  to  the  Emperor,  to  ob- 
tain redress  for  the  violence  which  had  deprived  them 
of  their  Bishop  and  profaned  the  sanctuary.  The 
answer  was,  a decree  that  their  churches  should  be  surrendered  to 
the  Arian  clergy.  A mob  of  pagans  and  apostates  enforced  the 
demand  by  a savage  onslaught  upon  the  Caesarean  Church,  in 
which  people  of  both  sexes  were  barbarously  maltreated,  while 
the  sacred  edifice  was  pillaged  with  every  circumstance  of  sac- 
rilegious riot.  This  was  but  the  prelude  to  a reign  of  terror. 
Clergy  were  beaten,  banished,  robbed ; virgins  were  given  up 
to  be  teased  and  scratched  and  torn  by  Arian  women  ; citizens 
who  remonstrated  were  answered  with  the  scourge ; some  were 
put  to  death,  some  sent  to  the  mines  : in  the  midst  of  all  which 
George  the  Cappadocian,  a man  of  literary  tastes  but 

^ George  0/ 

ignorant  of  theology  and  ‘‘  savage  as  a bear  or  wolf,”  Cappadocia^ 
was  consecrated  Bishop  by  an  Arian  Council  at  Anti-  ^ ^ 
och,  and  was  installed  by  a band  of  soldiers  in  the  Evangelic 
See.  Under  his  auspices  some  ninety  of  the  Bishops  of  the 
province  were  banished,  deprived,  or  visited  with  persecution 
in  other  forms.  The  vacant  sees  were  filled,  not  without 
a spirited  resistance,  with  simoniacal  “forerunners  of  Anti- 
christ.” There  was  violence,  in  fact,  on  both  sides.  George, 


*^Sozom.  y.  30;  Socrat.  ii.  28;  Athanas.  Apolog.  pro  Fuga, 


428 


History  of  the  Church. 


Arian 

Quarrels, 


on  one  occasion,  was  nigh  being  torn  in  pieces  by  a Catholic 
mob. *7  On  the  other  hand,  when  an  attempt  was  made  by  the 
faithful  to  withdraw  from  his  communion  and  hold  separate  ser- 
vices, the  Duke  Sebastian  fell  upon  them,  as  they  were  assem- 
bled in  a cemetery  outside  the  city,  and  with  fire  and  sword 
and  scourge  endeavored  to  force  them  into  conformity. 

Such  was  the  rule  of  Arianism  in  Alexandria  and  other 
cities : a miserable  time,  to  give  an  idea  of  which  the  copious 
Reign  of  details  furnished  by  the  ancients  are  unnecessary;  for. 
Terror.  unhappily,  such  is  human  nature  and  human  history, 
that  when  we  have  ascertained  a willingness  to  persecute,  on 
the  part  of  any  faction,  with  full  power  to  do  so,  the  rest  may 
be  safely  left  to  the  imagination  of  the  reader. 

But  persecution  of  the  Catholics  was  hardly  enough  to 
satiate  the  evil  spirit  of  the  times.  The  Arian  factions  could 
not  refrain  from  turning  their  weapons  upon  one 
another.  That  blasphemous  creed  concocted  at  Sir- 
mium  and  afterwards  adopted  at  Antioch,  which  Hosius  had 
been  forced  to  sign,  anathematized  the  Homoiousians  or  Semi- 
arians  as  well  as  the  Catholics.  The  Semiarians,  in  turn,  held  a 
Ancyra,  council  at  Ancyra,  headed  by  Basil  the  Bishop  of  that 
A.D.  358.  condemned  the  grosser  errors  of  the  other 

sects.  Hence  a better  understanding,  for  a time  at  least,  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  Western  Bishops.  Men  like  Basil  of 
Ancyra  or  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  were  found  to  mean  much  the 
same  as  Hilary  of  Poitiers  or  as  S.  Athanasius.  Even  the 
Emperor,  for  a moment,  was  drawn  into  the  reaction.  He 
denounced  the  ‘‘atheist’*  Aetius,  with  his  followers  Eunomius 
and  Eudoxius.  He  was  led  almost  to  the  point  of 

A General  • /-.  *1  1 • 

Council  calling  a Council,  truly  ecumenical  : but  just  at  that 

called  for.  . 1 1 a • • 1 • 1 . 

point  the  subtle  Acacians  crept  into  his  favor ; and,  in- 
stead of  one,  two  Synods  were  assembled,  the  one  at  Ariminum, 
a place  convenient  for  the  West,  and  the  other,  a sort  of  coun- 
terpoise, at  Seleucia  in  the  East.^® 

When  these  Synods  met,  Ariminum  was  quite  orthodox,  and 
*7Sozom.  iv.  10.  Sozom.  iv.  17,  18,  19,  22-24. 


Constantins,  Arian  Persecutions. 


429 


Seleucia, 


its  four  hundred  Bishops  pronounced  with  considerable  unanim- 
ity in  favor  of  an  acknowledgment  of  the  Nicene 
Creed.  With  equal  unanimity  they  refused  to  accept  Ariminum. 

^ ■ A.D.  359-360. 

the  Kata  panta  homoion^  an  artful  formulary,  unob- 
jectionable except  for  its  omissions,  which  had  received  the 
approbation  of  Constantins,  and  which,  from  its  exact  mention 
of  the  consulship  and  day  of  its  issue,  went  under  the  name  of 
the  Dated  Creed.  This  much  being  settled,  the  Council  sent  a 
Commission  of  ten  to  Constantins,  with  a request  that  their  acts 
might  be  sanctioned  and  themselves  permitted  to  return  to  their 
sees.  The  Emperor  received  them  coldly.  He  had  other  business 
on  hand.  He  was  about  to  set  out,  he  said,  for  a campaign  in 
Persia ; and  the  Council  might  await  his  return  to  Hadrianople. 

At  Seleucia,  the  meanwhile,  the  Semiarian  majority  had 
adopted  the  Creed  of  Antioch,  called  that  of  the  Dedi- 
cation, against  the  protest  of  the  Acacian  party.  They 
also  sent  deputies  to  Constantins,  to  inform  him  of  their  decision. 

But  the  Acacians  had  already  got  the  ear  of  the  fickle  court. 
After  sundry  negotiations,  during  which  the  Bishops  were  given 
plainly  to  understand  that  their  return  to  their  sees  Homcean 
depended  upon  compliance  with  the  Emperor’s  will,  a 
Homcean  Symbol  was  once  more  presented  to  the  Ariminian  pre- 
lates ; one  or  two  anathemas  were  added  to  give  it  an  appearance 
of  condemning  Arius ; finally,  it  was  subscribed  by  the  Council 
with  seeming  demonstrations  of  joy  and  of  confidence  in  its  or- 
thodoxy. It  is  possible  that  a few  of  the  Bishops  were  really  de- 
ceived. The  rest  managed  in  some  measure  to  deceive  themselves. 

A like  course  was  pursued  towards  the  Semiarians  at  Seleu- 
cia, with  the  same  result.  It  seemed  a universal  lapse ; which, 
though  almost  immediately  repented  of  by  the  Bish-  General 
ops  and  repudiated  by  the  people,  showed  how  com- 
pletely  the  Church  was  demoralized,  and  how  little  was  required 
(humanly  speaking)  to  make  it,  like  the  old  heathenism,  a mere 
instrument  of  state — a mere  echo  of  the  voice  of  arbitrary  power. 

But  the  lapse  of  the  Church  proved  the  downfall  of  the 
heresy  before  which  it  stumbled.  S.  Athanasius,  in  his  retire- 


430  History  of  the  Church. 

ment,  foresaw  this  result  and  predicted  a swift  retreat,  on  the 
Defeat  iit  P^^t  of  the  great  body  of  moderate  men,  in  the  direc- 
Vtctory.  Other  of  two  positions.  The  orthodox 

in  heart"^  would  find  their  way  clear  to  a right  confession : the 
real  heretics  would  slide  from  bad  to  worse.  A few  years 
„ . showed  the  truth  of  his  prediction.  Constantins  took 

Retreat  in 

two  direct  the  downward  course,  allowing  Eudoxius,  a man 

tions. 

noted  for  the  coarseness  and  profanity  of  his  ‘‘ athe- 
ism, to  be  enthroned  in  the  great  see  of  Constantinople,  while 
Euzoius,  the  old  comrade  of  Arius,  was  elevated  to  the  same 
honor  in  Antioch.  By  the  latter  of  these  two  the  Emperor  was 
baptized  before  his  death,  and  probably  died  a strict  Arian.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  the  world  found  itself  Arian,  it  groaned 
as  well  as  marvelled  at  the  strange  result.^  There  was  a universal 
feeling  of  grief  and  shame.  Liberius  of  Rome  availed  himself  of 
the  opportunity  to  redeem  his  credit.  Hilary  of  Poitiers  and 
not  a few  others,  some  known  as  Confessors  of  the  Faith 

Revival  of 

zeal  for  and  some  who  had  ranked  hitherto  among  the  time- 

Orthodoxy.  . i r 

servers,  came  out  with  fervent  zeal  against  all  evasions, 
and  labored  to  restore  the  Homoousion.  In  the  East,  the  Semi- 
arians  were  spurred  to  the  same  course  by  Acacian  persecutions, 
and  by  the  rapid  growth  in  court-favor  of  the  extreme  Aetians. 

Such  in  a general  way  was  the  drift  of  things,  when  Con- 
stantins, still  on  the  flood-tide  of  life  and  fortune,  heard  of  a 
revolt  in  the  West,  in  which  Julian  had  been  forced  to 

Death  of  , . . , . , ^ , 

Constan-  accept  the  imperial  title ; felt  in  that  event  a premon- 
itory symptom  of  his  own  approaching  end ; was  dis- 
tracted for  awhile  by  conflicting  counsels;  finally  took  to  his 
bed  in  a raging  fever ; and  after  a tedious  death-struggle  left  the 
Empire  in  the  hands  of  the  ablest  and  most  politic  of  all  the 
opponents  of  Christianity. 

*9  A distinction  which  Athanasius  kept  carefully  in  view ; for  he  knew 
that  no  word  could  express  the  truth  with  absolute  precision,  and  that  men 
might  honestly  object  to  the  term  Homoousion  without  denying  the  doctrine  it 
was  meant  to  convey. 

“ “ Ingemuit  totus  orbis  et  Arianum  se  esse  miratus  est.”  S.  Jerome. 


Times  of  Julian  the  Apostate. 


431 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


TIMES  OF  JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE. 


In  the  eourse  of  Church  History  cases  continually  occur  of  the 
progress  from  Philosophy  to  Christian  faith.  Julian*  was  an 
instance  of  a passage  in  the  opposite  direction.  Res-  Passage 
cued  at  seven  years  of  age  from  the  massacre  of  the 
Flavian  family;  brought  up  in  seclusion  under  the 
cold  and  watchful  eye  of  a jealous  tyrant ; susceptible 
in  his  feelings ; proud,  vain,  enthusiastic,  eager  for  fame ; capa- 
ble of  achieving  distinction  in  whatever  he  undertook,  yet  con- 
demned to  the  society  of  books  and  dreams ; above  all,  know- 
ing Christianity  only  as  he  saw  it  in  the  hypocrisies  and  cabals 
of  a detested  court : it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he 
turned  from  the  present  to  the  past ; that  he  exchanged  a pain- 
ful and  perplexing  reality,  such  as  court  Christianity  at  that 
time  presented,  for  an  ideal,  visionary  indeed,  yet  easily  asso- 
ciated in  his  mind  with  all  the  glories  and  amenites  of  the  most 
brilliant  page  of  the  history  of  human  progress. 

Nor  was  there  much  to  prevent  such  a bias,  in  the  kind  of 
care  bestowed  upon  his  religious  education.  The  eunuch  Mar- 
donius,  the  first  and  ablest  of  his  masters,  taught  him 
how  to  walk  with  downcast  eyes,  to  despise  all  sports, 
to  read  and  meditate,  to  repress  with  monastic  rigor 
all  show  of  human  affections."*  Such  a course  of  training  might 


Julian's 

early 

Training. 


* Abundant  materials  for  a life  of  Julian,  from  Ammianus,  Libanius; 
Eunapius,  Julian’s  Letters,  Greg.  Nazianzen,  Basil,  Chrysostom,  the  Church 
Historians,  etc.,  are  brought  together  by  Tillemont.  Hist,  des  Emp.  tom.  iv. ; 
and  in  the  Memoires^  etc.,  tom.  vii. 

2 In  later  life  he  prided  himself  on  this  philosophic  calm : “ A philos- 
opher,” he  said,  ought  not  even  to  breathe,  if  he  could  help  it.” 


432 


History  of  the  Church. 


Later 

Studies, 


make  a saint,  but  it  was  equally  well  adapted  to  mar  a Chris- 
tian. For  awhile  it  seemed  to  be  attended  with  the  former 
effect.  The  early  youth  of  Julian  was  sober,  studious,  and  de- 
vout : he  was  a regular  communicant,  a candidate  for  the  sacred 
Ministry,  and  even  a Reader,  for  awhile,  in  the  Church  of 
Nicomedia. 

But,  as  time  rolled  on,  his  inquisitive  genius,  with  the 
wretched  uncertainty  of  his  life  and  fortunes,  brought  him  un- 
der the  spell  of  the  philosophy  of  the  day ; and  philos- 
ophy soon  introduced  him  to  its  next-door  neighbor, 
theurgy.  He  became  intimate  with  sophists,  astrologers,  and 
professors  of  divination  : especially  with  one  Maximus,  an  Ephe- 
sian,^ the  most  learned  in  signs  and  portents  of  all  his  contem- 
poraries. 

At  Athens,  the  stronghold  of  intellectual  pride,  where  he 
studied  about  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his  life,  the  spell  was 
His  Abode  probably  completed.  There  he  enjoyed  the ‘‘delici- 
at  Athens,  vanity,'*  as  one  of  the  Fathers  called  it,  of  familiar 
intercourse  with  men  who  reigned  as  emperors  in  the  realm 
of  thought.  There  he  was  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  Mys- 
Grefrory  terics.  Gregory  Nazianzen  saw  him  often  in  those 
and  Basil  ^j^iys ; as  also  Basil,  called  the  Great,  upon  whom  was 
soon  to  fall  the  mantle  and  the  spirit  of  the  great  Athanasius. 
With  the  latter  of  these  he  seems  to  have  been  on  friendly 
terms.  The  former,^  more  sensitive  to  evil,  avoided  his  society ; 
for  he  saw  in  him,  he  thought,  a mind  unhinged,  an  uncertain 
temper,  a soul  ill  at  ease,  and  at  variance  with  itself.  Indeed, 
if  we  are  to  credit  the  picture  drawn  by  Nazianzen,  Julian  at 
Mental  time  must  not  only  have  reached  the  turning-point 

Conflict,  must  have  passed  it  with  no  little  suf- 

fering to  himself : in  his  disordered  gait,  his  feverish  eye,  his 

3 An  extant  poem  of  this  quack,  De  Electionibus,  reveals  the  auspicious 
moment  for  all  undertakings : for  travelling,  marrying,  taking  medicine,  run- 
ning away  from  one’s  master  or  catching  runaways,  stealing  or  recovering 
stolen  goods,  etc.  Fabric.  Bibliothec,  Grcec.  lib.  v.  cap.  25. 

4 S.  Greg.  Naz.  Oral.  iv.  25. 


Times  of  Julian  the  Apostate.  433 

tongue  venomous  and  sarcastic  by  fits  and  starts,  his  abrupt  and 
imperious  yet  agitated  manner,  these  were  all  the  outward 
marks  of  spiritual  anguish — of  a desperate  and  secret  intellectual 
struggle. 

The  contest  resulted,  not  in  an  apostasy  to  vulgar  paganism, 
but  in  the  adoption  of  a visionary  scheme  in  which  the  Platonic 
philosophy,^  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  mir-  juUan^s 
acle-mongering  of  theurgic  science,  were  to  be  en-  ideal. 
grafted  upon  the  stock  of  the  old  mythology ; while  the  whole 
was  to  blossom  and  bear  fruit  not  its  own,^*  by  virtue  of  a 
mystical  interpretation. 

Julian  is  said  to  have  been  confirmed  in  his  change  by  the 
artful  prophecies  of  Maximus,  or  of  other  professors  of  super- 
natural lore.^  There  was  much  in  his  actual  life  to  Favors 0/ 
make  him  an  easy  victim  to  such  pretenders.  Gallus,  fortune. 
his  elder  brother,  after  a short  reign  as  Csesar  in  the  provinces 
of  the  East,  had  been  put  to  death  for  his  cruelty,  vanity,  and 
ambition ; and  the  one  life  that  remained  to  excite  the  jealousy 
of  Constantius  was  well  known  to  hang  in  an  even  balance. 
The  magicians  promised  him  safety  and  empire : the  Empress 
Eusebia  secured  it  for  him.  By  her  intercession  and  by  a 
strange  infatuation  on  the  Emperor’s  part,  he  was  sent  to  Gaul 
in  the  capacity  of  Caesar.  There,  anxious  to  avoid  his  broth- 
er’s fate,  he  dissembled  his  religion,  refrained  from  every  act 
that  might  excite  suspicion,  and  aimed  only  at  a moderate,  just, 
and  vigorous  discharge  of  his  princely  duties.  But  to  hit  such 
a mark  was  to  secure  without  difficulty  a more  splendid  prize. 


5 With  Porphyry  and  lamblichus  it  (the  Alexandrian  school)  becomes  a 
sort  of  Church,  and  disputes  with  Christianity  the  empire  of  the  world.  Chris- 
tianity had  ascended  the  throne  in  the  person  of  Constantine : Neoplatonism 
dethrones  it  and  usurps  its  place  in  the  person  of  Julian  the  Apostate.  But 
now  mark  the  difference.  In  losing  Constantine,  Christianity  lost  nothing  of 

its  real  power In  losing  Julian,  Neoplatonism  lost  its  power,  political 

and  religious.”  Lewes,  Biograph.  Hist,  of  Philos.  Epoch  ix.  chap.  ii. 

®Libanius  (Oral,  v.)  says  that  all  the  pagans,  the  diviners  especially, 
were  secretly  sacrificing  in  his  behalf. 

19 


434  History  of  the  Church. 

The  army  greeted  with  acclamations  a merit  unknown  to  them 
of  late,  and  forced  upon  Julian  the  title  of  Augustus.  A col- 
lision with  Constantins  would  naturally  follow.  But,  by  an- 
„ , other  of  those  sudden  turns,  which  coming  as  they 

He  becomes  ...  o j 

sole  did  at  critical  moments  of  his  life  seemed  to  point 

Hmperor.  , ^ 

Julian  out  as  the  favorite  of  the  gods,  the  last  obstacle 
disappeared  from  the  path  of  the  young  hero  and  the  vision 
of  an  universal  Empire,  consolidated,  restored,  and  illustrated 
with  the  glories  of  polytheistic  worship,  assumed  shape  and 
consistency  in  his  fervid  imagination,  and  seemed  settling  into 
the  proportions  of  an  accomplished  fact. 

Accordingly  he  took  possession  of  Constantinople;  where, 
having  purged  himself  of  his  baptism  by  the  dread  rites  of  the 
Taurobolia,®  and  having  sacrificed  in  the  great  Church  to  an 
He  devotes  image  of  Fortune,  he  stood  before  the  world,  not  an 
himself.  Eniperor  merely,  but  a sceptred  sorcerer : a prince 
armed  with  all  powers,  material  and  spiritual,^  and  consecrating 
all  to  the  reform  of  the  Roman  State,  to  the  establishment  of 
idolatry,  and  especially  to  open  warfare  against  the  reign  of  the 
detested  Galilean. 

Reform  began  with  the  Palace,  but  was  rapidly  extended 
into  all  departments.  The  parasites  of  Constantins  were  swept 
Measures  away : expenses  were  curtailed  with  military  rigor ; 
of  Reform.  hierarchy  of  State  which  Constan- 

tine had  created  or  unduly  expanded,  was  reduced  to  more 
modest  and  more  serviceable  proportions. 


7 This  was  predicted  by  the  haruspices  : Julian  also  saw  it  in  a dream. 
Zosim.  ii. ; Zonar.  iii. 

^ A baptism  in  the  blood  of  bulls. 

9 The  eulogists  of  Julian  dwell  much  on  this.  Libanius  [Oral,  x.)  de- 
clares that  he  had  no  use  for  councils  of  war,  or  other  deliberative  assemblies, 
for  his  art  could  show  him  everything  supernaturally.  Eunapius  (quoted  in 
Milman’s  notes  to  Gibbon)  speaks  of  him  as  one  “ who  with  a mind  equal  to 
the  Divinity  ....  held  commerce  with  immaterial  beings  while  yet  in  the 
material  body : who  condescended  to  rule  because  a ruler  was  necessary  to 
the  welfare  of  mankind.” 


435 


Times  of  yulian  the  Apostate. 

Such  measures  might  have  proved  acceptable  to  the  public, 
had  the  Emperor  been  able  to  fill  with  credit  the  vacancies  cre- 
ated by  his  sweeping  reforms.  But  the  material  could 
not  be  found.  Idolatry  had  no  gift  to  profit  by  ad-  fourt 
versity : the  half  century  that  had  elapsed  since  its 
first  overthrow  had  raised  up  to  it  no  heroes,  no  martyrs,  no 
spirit  of  self-devotion.  The  consequence  was,  that  when  Julian 
called  for  men  to  codperate  with  him  in  the  cause  of  the  fallen 
gods,  the  summons  was  answered  only  by  troops  of  quacks. 
The  Court*®  became  a den  of  sophists,  rhetoricians,  astrologers, 
magicians : and  even  of  these  classes  the  more  prudent  kept 
aloof,**  so  little  confidence  was  felt  in  the  projected  restora- 
tion. 

Better  hopes  were  inspired  by  his  honest  and  in  the  main 
successful  efforts  to  reduce  the  burden  of  taxation  under  which 
the  world  groaned;  by  his  zeal  for  impartial  justice;  Acts  of 
by  his  righteous  severity  towards  spies  and  informers ; Justice, 
and  finally  by  his  promise  of  universal  toleration.  For  he 
recalled  the  numerous  exiles  of  the  previous  reign  and  put  all 
Christian  sects  upon  an  equal  footing.  He  hoped,  in  pretended 
so  doing,  to  see  the  Church  perish  by  its  own  dissen- 
sions  ;**  but,  the  event  proving  quite  otherwise,  it  was  not  long 
before  he  began  to  connive  at  persecution,  and  even  in  some 
cases  to  set  the  example  himself. 

He  revoked  the  honors  and  immunities  of  the  Christian 
Clergy,*^  and  deprived  them  of  all  revenues  accruing  from  the 
State.  The  Laity  were  forbidden  to  hold  office,  to 

. , ...  1 • i Severities. 

practise  as  advocates  or  physicians,  or  to  teach  in  the 
public  schools  Their  children  were  excluded  from  a classical 
education.  Fines  were  laid  on  those  who  refused  to  sacrifice. 
The  destroyers  of  idol-temples  in  the  preceding  reign  were 

*°The  heathen  historian  complains  of  this.  Ammian.  Marcell.  xxii.  xxiii. 

“ Among  others  Chrysanthius,  who  not  only  declined  to  go  to  Court,  but 
being  appointed  High  Priest  of  Lydia  kept  on  good  terms  with  the  Christians. 
See  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Emp.  Julien^  art.  xiii. 

Ammian.  xxii.  5.  *3Sozom.  v. ; Socrat.  iii. ; Theod.  iii. 


436 


History  of  the  Church. 


obliged  to  make  good  the  damage  done,  or  to  suffer  the  pains 
Mark  of  of  insolvent  debtors.  A venerable  Arian  Bishop, 
Arethusa.  Arethusa,  who  had  saved  Julian’s  life  at  the 

time  of  the  massacre  of  the  Flavian  family,  was  one  of  the  vic- 
tims of  this  enactment : he  was  stripped,  scourged,  anointed 
with  honey,  and  hung  up  in  the  hot  sun  to  be  stung  by  flies. 
For  a similar  offence,  Caesarea  of  Cappadocia  was  expunged 
George  the  from  the  Hst  of  citics.  George,  the  infamous  intruder 
Artan,  Alexandria,  was  seized  and  torn  in 

pieces  by  an  infuriated  mob.  He  had  merited  death  by  his 
vile  rapacity,  but  provoked  it  by  insults  upon  the  heathen  tem- 
ples.There  were  similar  acts  of  violence,  and  perhaps  of 
retaliation,  in  the  cities  of  Syria  and  Palestine : all  of  which, 
however,  the  Emperor  excused,  dismissing  the  complaints  of 
the  sufferers  with  the  sneer,  that  patience  under  injuries  was  a 
precept  of  their  religion.  It  has  always  been  our  wish,”  he 
said,*^  to  treat  the  Galilaeans  with  humanity,  and 
Christians  not  to  force  them  into  any  act  against  their  relig- 

of  Edessa.  . . i i i ^ . 

ion.  . . . But,  to  aid  them  in  the  practice  of  their 
admirable  law  and  to  facilitate  their  entrance  into  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven,  we  have  ordered  that  their  Church  be  relieved  of 
its  property,  the  money  to  be  distributed  among  the  soldiers, 
the  lands  to  be  attached  to  the  imperial  domain  : that  poverty 
may  teach  them  a lesson  of  discretion,  and  may  prevent  their 
losing  that  heavenly  kingdom.”  Such  was  his  decree  against 
the  Arians  of  Edessa  who  had  ventured  to  maltreat  the  Valen- 
tinians  : and  in  the  same  spirit  he  chastised  the  Christian  sects 
in  general,  scourging  them  as  it  were  with  thorns  of  their  own 
planting,  driving  them  into  pits  which  they  had  dug  for  others. 

In  the  case  of  S.  Athanasius,  he  had  no  such  excuse  of 
^‘poetic  justice,”  but  came  out  without  disguise  as  a 
again  pcrsecutor.  The  Saint,  like  others,  had  returned  to 
banished.  heathen  complained  : the  Catholics, 

speaking  in  the  name  of  the  city,  sent  to  the  Emperor  a 


Socrat.  iii.  2,  3. 


*sEpistol.  xliii; 


Julian.  Epistol.  vi.  xxvi.  li. 


Times  of  Julian  the  Apostate.  437 

counter-petition.  Julian,  in  his  answer,  sneered  at  their  pre- 
sumption, ridiculed  their  religion,  glorified  the  heathen  gods, 
and  gave  orders  that  ‘‘the  knave*’  who  tickled  their  “itching 
ears,”  the  “meddling  mannikin”  who  gloried  in  risking  his 
life,  the  miscreant  who  had  “dared  to  baptize  noble  Greek 
women,”  should  be  driven  without  delay  from  Alexandria  and 
Egypt. 

This  growing  inclination  towards  measures  of  severity  was 
increased  by  certain  incidents  that  occurred  in  An-  Antioch^ 
tioch,  where  the  Emperor  abode  for  awhile  previ-  a.d.  362. 
ous  to  his  departure  for  the  Persian  war. 

The  Grove  of  Daphne, in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city, 
had  been  famous  in  pagan  times  as  a Paradise  of  beauty  and  a 
Sodom  of  iniquity:  a place  where,  surrounded  by  roof-  Grove  0/ 
like  shades  of  primeval  cypresses,  with  hills  laurel- 
crowned  and  secluded  valleys  and  springs  pouring  their  spark- 
ling treasures  into  a thousand  channels,  the  worship  of  Apollo 
had  sanctified  the  frivolity  of  a pleasure-loving  people,  and  had 
spread  a mystic  veil  over  scenes  of  unblushing  voluptuousness 
and  audacious  crime.  On  the  triumph  of  the  Cross  it  had  been 
cleansed,  in  some  measure,  of  its  abominations.  Gallus,  Julian’s 
elder  brother,  had  caused  the  remains  of  S.  Babylas  to  Removal  0/ 
be  transported  thither ; and  a magnificent  Christian 
church,  with  a noble  cemetery,  stood  confronting  and  insulting 
the  more  ancient  shrine.  When  Julian  came  to  Antioch"®  and 
visited  the  old  temple,  he  was  mortified  to  find  it  almost  for- 
saken : a starveling  priest  was  sacrificing  a goose  for  lack  of  a 
better  victim  ; the  famous  oracle  was  dumb,  “because  of  the 
vicinity  of  dead  men’s  remains.”  Such  a disgrace  could  not  be 
tolerated.  The  Christians  were  commanded  to  remove  their 
relics.  They  obeyed  the  order  and  converted  it  into  a triumph. 
As  the  body  of  the  Saint  was  solemnly  translated  to  the  city, 
the  ears  of  the  Emperor  were  saluted  with  a thundering  defiance, 
the  precentor  singing  first  and  the  multitude  responding,  “ Con- 


*7  Sozom.  V.  19. 


*®Theod.  iii.  lo,  n,  etc.;  Sozom.  v.  19,  20. 


438 


History  of  the  Church. 

founded  be  all  they  that  worship  carved  images  and  that  delight 
in  vain  gods.**  This  could  not  but  be  followed  by  mutual 
exasperation.  The  Antiocheans  would  sing — especially  the 
women.  The  Emperor,  in  spite  of  the  sober  counsels  of  more 
experienced  advisers,  was  bent  on  putting  a stop  to  their 
Cruel  untimely  mirth.  Theodore,  a young  Christian,  was 
Measures,  ^Qrtured  on  the  rack. He  sang  more  heartily  than 
ever  while  the  torment  was  going  on;  for,  though  ‘‘he  felt 
the  points  of  the  nails  a little,  yet  a young  man  stood  by  him 
(invisible  to  others)  and  wiped  the  sweat  from  his  face  and 
refreshed  him  with  water.**  On  the  other  hand,  the  Daphnian 
Apollo  and  his  temple  were  set  on  fire  by  lightning,  as  was 
commonly  reported,  or,  as  the  Emperor  chose  to  believe,^  by  a 
Christian  incendiary.  Hence  a series  of  atrocious  and  vin- 
dictive measures;  in  which  Julian,  losing  his  temper,  awakened 
the  martyr  spirit  in  some  and  the  mocking  spirit  in  others,  so 
that  the  very  heathen  soon  began  to  regard  him  with  feelings  of 
aversion. 

Still,  as  a general  rule,  Julian  was  averse  to  making  martyrs, 
and  preferred  that  policy  of  mingled  flattery  and  sarcasm,  with 
Milder  occasional  flashes  of  apparent  magnanimity,  which 
Perse-  would  lead  unstable  Christians  to  fall  of  themselves. 

From  his  early  training  he  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  Scriptures,  and  with  all  the  variations  of  Christian 
sects.  He  availed  himself  of  this  knowledge  with  pungent 
wit ; and  many  who  might  have  stood  under  the  scourge  or 
rack  were  easily  overthrown  by  a well-aimed  sneer.  Largesses 
and  bribes  were  effectual  with  others.  The  old  trick  was  re- 
vived, of  sprinkling  the  soldiers*  rations  with  lustral  water,  or 
exposing  in  the  shambles  meats  offered  to  idols.  Thus  apostates 
were  numerous  in  the  court  and  camp.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  were  some  who  kept  their  places  in  both,  by  virtue  of 
their  blameless  and  consistent  conduct : a tyrant  may  value 

*9  Sozom.  V.  20. 

*^Ammian.  (xxii.  13)  treats  this  as  an  unfounded  rumor.  Even  the 
priests  of  the  temple  did  not  profess  to  know  the  origin  of  the  fire. 


Times  of  Julian  the  Apostate.  439 

renegades  as  trophies  of  his  skill,  but  he  cannot  trust  to  them 
exclusively  as  servants. 

His  design  to  restore  the  splendor  of  the  old  idol-worship 
he  seems  to  have  first  intimated  in  a letter  to  the  Athenians, 
written  not  long  before  the  death  of  Constantins.  idolatry 
The  carrying  out  of  the  intention  was  by  no  means 
easy.  By  a stroke  of  the  pen  he  could  transfer  to  the  pagan 
priesthood  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  Christian 
Clergy.  But  beyond  this  point  everything  was  in  a The  Priests 
tangle  of  conflicting  views.  The  sacerdotal  families 
were  at  feud  among  themselves ; nor  were  they  disposed  to 
hearken  graciously  to  the  Christian-like  homilies,  with  which 
their  Sovereign  Pontiff  saw  fit  to  edify  them,  on  the  virtues  of 
unity,  charity,  and  mutual  forbearance.  Still  less  were  they 
inclined  to  lead  disciplined  lives,  after  the  fashion  of  the  hated 
Galileans,**  or  to  set  an  example  of  humility  and  chastity,  or  to 
show  their  faith  by  deeds  of  beneficence  to  the  poor.  For  the 
Emperor  desired  the  fruits  of  Christianity,  though  he  abhorred 
the  tree  : the  priests,  it  was  found,  had  no  taste  for  either.  In 
the  same  way,  the  populace  valued  paganism  as  min-  The  People 
istering  to  their  vices ; but  the  lewd  and  bloody  sports 
of  the  circus  were  an  abomination  to  the  disciple  of  Plato  and 
Mardonius,  and  he  felt  himself  bound  to  set  his  face  against 
them.**  In  the  absence  of  such  treats,  people  could  not  but 
laugh  at  the  strange  pomps  of  the  revived  sacrifices.  Heca- 
tombs of  oxen  seemed  a grand  absurdity.  The  imperial  sacri- 
ficer  was  nicknamed  the  Butcher ; the  symbol  on  his  coins,  a 
hull  supine  upon  an  altar y was  held  to  mean  the  world  turned 
upside  down  ; while  his  long  straggling  beard,  his  uncomely 
visage,  his  insignificant  figure  and  pretentious  airs,  all  came 
in  for  a share  of  the  popular  ill -humor.  With  a pen  steeped  in 
gall  the  Emperor  retorted,  now  upon  the  haters  of  beards,  now 
upon  the  enemies  of  the  immortal  gods.  The  lively  Antio- 

See  Julian’s  letter  to  Arsacius  the  high-priest  of  Galatia  Sozom.  v.  i6. 

^ Zosimus  attributes  all  the  Emperor’s  troubles  in  Antioch  to  the  severity 
of  his  manners. 


440 


History  of  the  Church. 


cheans  were  pilloried  in  a satire  entitled  Misopogon.  The  hated 
“Galileans,”  as  he  called  the  Christians,  were  visited 

Julian's 

Literary  morc  than  once  with  a similar  rebuke.  But  in  con- 

Efforts. 

tests  of  this  kind  victory  inclines  to  numbers  rather 
than  to  wit ; and  it  must  soon  have  become  obvious  to  the 
Emperor  himself,  that  whatever  might  be  his  success  against 
Christianity,  the  attempt  to  replace  it  by  a spiritual  paganism 
could  end  in  nothing  else  than  a mortifying  failure. 

In  fact,  heathenism  could  exist  only  as  a superstition : as  a 
religion  it  was  decayed  and  full  of  rents ; to  touch  it  was  to 
Cause  of  i^^crease  the  rents  in  it ; and  the  rents  were  made  infi- 
Faiiure.  nitely  worse,  when  patched  with  the  new  cloth  of  an 
ideal,  half  Christian,  half  Platonic,  and  wholly  beyond  the 
reach  of  popular  apprehension. 

This  truth  was  brought  home  to  the  Emperor  in  a more  seri- 
ous way  by  the  issue  of  his  attempt  to  restore  Judaism.  It  was 
not  inconsistent  with  polytheistic  notions,  that  the 

A itempt  to  r J 

restore  God  of  the  Hebrews  should  be  worshipped  in  the 

Judaism. 

land  of  Judaea  and  it  was  natural  that  Julian  should 
desire  to  have  his  own  name  connected"*^  with  so  magnificent  a 
fane  and  so  splendid  a ceremonial,  as  the  Jews  with  their  great 
wealth  and  zeal  were  capable  of  erecting.  Hatred  of  the  Gos- 
j)el  added  force  to  this  desire.  To  rebuild  the  Temple  was  to 
falsify,  it  was  thought,  the  predictions  of  our  Saviour.  To 
reestablish  the  Law  was  to  sap  Christianity  at  its  fountain- 
head. Accordingly,  the  Jews  were  incited  to  engage  in  the 
Zealous  ^^idertaking.  Aid  was  freely  given  from  the  public 
Erepara-  treasury ; skilled  workmen  were  brought  together ; 

there  were  rich  offerings  in  profusion,  silver  mattocks, 
silver  trowels,  gold,  purples,  and  precious  stones  ; delicate 
women  came  to  work  in  their  silks  and  jewels;  finally,  the 
accomplished  Alypius,  a bosom  friend  of  the  Emperor’s  and  a 
distinguished  officer  of  the  empire,  was  specially  intrusted  with 
ihe  superintendence  of  the  work. 


*3  Julian,  Epistol.  xxv. 


*-^Ammian.  xxiii.  i. 


441 


Times  of  Julian  the  Apostate. 

The  defeat  that  ensued  was  signal  and  overwhelming  beyond 
all  precedent.  Trenches  dug  by  day  were  filled  up  by  night. 
When  a part  of  the  wall  was  built,  an  earthquake  over-  signal 

threw  it.  A fiery  eruption  from  the  vaults  of  the  old  Oe/eat, 
Temple  scattered  death  and  panic  among  the  workmen  and 
consumed  their  tools.  The  air  was  filled  with  tempests  and 
meteoric  splendors : a great  cross  was  seen  enclosed  in  a circle, 
and  luminous  figures  of  a like  character  seemed  to  settle  on  the 
persons  and  garments  of  the  beholders.  In  short,  though 
Alypius  set  himself  resolutely  to  accomplish  the  work,  and  was 
assisted  therein  by  the  Governor  of  the  Province,  the  place 
soon  became  inaccessible  to  the  scorched  and  blasted  work- 
men, and  the  obstinacy  of  the  elements  compelled  him  to 
desist. 

Had  Julian  lived  longer,  the  enterprise  possibly  might  have 
been  renewed.  But,  when  the  news  of  this  defeat  invasion 
reached  him,  his  evil  genius  had  already  incited  him 
to  an  undertaking  that  proved  in  its  issue  still  more  disastrous, 
— the  invasion  of  the  Kingdom  of  Persia. 

This  powerful  monarchy,  the  inveterate  rival  and  enemy  of 
Rome,  had  received  a severe  check  in  the  reign  of  Diocletian  ; 
had  been  conciliated  by  treaties  honorable  to  both  cause  of 
parties  under  the  politic  administration  of  Constan- 
tine ; but  finally,  encouraged  by  the  weakness  of  Constantins 
and  led  on  by  the  valor  of  Sapor  the  long-lived  king,^^  had 
inflicted  not  a few  disgraces  upon  the  Roman  arms. 

Ammianus  (the  heathen  historian)  bears  witness  to  the  repeated  fiery 
eruptions,  and  to  the  consequent  defeat  of  the  earnest  efforts  of  Alypius 
(xxiii.  i).  The  other  circumstances  are  mentioned  by  Christian  writers,  for  an 
analysis  of  whose  testimony,  with  a complete  answer  to  the  objections  of 
Basnage,  see  Warburton’s  yulian.  This  writer  shows  that  an  earthquake 
(with  its  usual  accompaniments)  might  have  produced  all  the  alleged  phe- 
nomena. Others  account  for  them  by  the  gases  and  fixed  air  in  the  vaults 
of  the  old  Temple. — See  Milman’s  Notes  to  Gibbon,  The  two  theories,  by  the 
way,  are  as  old  as  Sozomen.  Hist.  v.  22. 

26  This  valiant  monarch  had  the  singular  honor  of  being  crowned  before 
he  was  born.  See  Gibbon’s  Decline ^ etc.,  chap,  xviii. 

19^ 


442  History  of  the  Church. 

Julian  only  added  to  the  number  of  these  reverses.  Led  on 
by  Fortune,  the  goddess  of  his  first  devotions,  and  emulating 
the  course  of  the  Macedonian  conqueror,  he  crossed 

Death  of  ^ ’ 

Julian,  the  Tigris,  fell  by  a strange  infatuation  into  a snare 
prepared  by  the  enemy,  and  finally,  after  a brilliant 
but  disastrous  victory,  perished  of  a wound  received  in  battle. 
The  Christians  pointed  the  moral  of  his  fate  by  putting  into  his 
mouth  the  famous  phrase,  GalilcEe^  vicisti  / The  heathen  histo- 
rian represents  him^  as  indulging,  on  his  death-bed,  in  a self- 
complacent  harangue  upon  the  innocency  of  his  life,  the  purity 
of  his  government,  the  splendid  close  of  his  career,  and  the 
felicity  of  a soul  beloved  of  the  gods  and  early  disencumbered 
of  its  mortal  body. 

Among  heathen  and  Christians  alike  there  had  been  a strong 
presentiment  of  his  approaching  end.""®  Julian  had  divined  it 
p . by  his  theurgic  skill ; and  the  Genius  of  the  Empire 
going  twice  appearing  to  him,  once  the  night  before  he 

before, 

received  the  purple  and  once  upon  the  eve  of  his  last 
battle,  had  on  both  these  occasions  assured  him  of  it.  Athana- 
sius, in  like  manner,  had  said  of  his  career,  ‘‘  It  is  a little  cloud 
and  will  soon  pass  over.”  A similar  story  is  told  of  a certain 
schoolmaster  in  Antioch.  When  Libanius,  the  great  Sophist, 
taunted  him  with  the  question,  ‘‘What  is  the  carpenter's  Son 
doing?”  he  answered  promptly  and  with  composure,  “He  is 
getting  ready  a coffin.”  So,  on  the  fatal  day:  two  priests  were 
conversing  sadly  in  a boat  on  the  Nile,  when  of  a sudden  one 
of  them  exclaimed,  “Julian  has  been  slain  this  very  hour”  ; 
Sabbas,  a pious  monk  in  Syria,  learned  the  same  on  his  knees ; 
Didymus,  the  Alexandrian  scholar,  saw  it  in  a dream  and  sent 


^ Gibbon  seldom  lays  himself  open  to  ridicule : yet  there  is  something 
ludicrous  in  the  gravity  with  which  he  expresses  his  “silent  contempt”  for 
the  Christian  story,  while  he  gives  in  full  the  rhetorical  harangue  recorded  by 
Ammianus.  He  also  commits  himself  to  the  wild  story  that  the  soldiers 
elected  Jovian  because  they  mistook  his  name  for  that  of  Julian. 

Theod.  iii.  23,  24 ; Sozom.  vi.  2 ; Ammian.  xxv.  2 ; Tillemont,  Hist, 
des  Emp.  tom.  iv.  p.  1015. 


Times  of  yulian  the  Apostate.  443 

word  of  it  to  S.  Athanasius ; an  officer  of  the  army  had  a sim- 
ilar vision  : in  all  which  stories,  as  in  the  parallel  Their 
anecdotes  from  the  heathen  side,  we  have  signs  of  the 
deep  and  earnest  feeling  with  which  Julian’s  career  had  been 
commonly  regarded.  It  was  evidently  looked  upon  as  a spirit- 
ual conflict,  a crisis  and  an  issue,  a ^^war  in  heaven,”  as  it 
were,  in  which  good  angels  and  bad,  the  powers  of  light  and 
of  darkness,  might  be  expected  to  take  a more  than  ordinary 
part. 

Upon  Jovian,  a Christian  confessor  and  a rude,  blunt  soldier, 
elected  by  the  military  on  the  fatal  field,  devolved  the  ungrate- 
ful task  of*extricating  the  army  from  impending  ruin.  jovian. 
The  Persians,  unwilling  to  combat  with  despair,  ^ 363- 

granted  him  the  boon  of  an  ignominious  peace. ^ He  pro- 
ceeded immediately  to  restore  Christianity.  The  Labarum  was 
once  more  raised  in  the  van  of  the  army. 3°  The  Clergy  re- 
covered their  former  state.  Even  the  Nicene  Creed,  so  long 
depressed,  was  elevated  at  once  to  the  post  of  honor ; for  the 
Emperor,  though  by  no  means  an  adept  in  theologic  lore,  had 
a gift  to  discern  the  merits  of  S.  Athanasius,  and  to  receive  from 
his  lips  the  measure  of  Imperial  faith.  Jovian  died  after  a 
reign  of  eight  months  only : but  the  army  again  showed  its 
preference  for  a Christian  head,  by  conferring  the  ^ 
purple  on  Valentinian.  He  also  inclined  to  the  or-  VaUtts, 

A.D.  364. 

thodox  side.  His  brother  Valens,  however,  whom  he 
adopted  as  colleague  in  the  empire  and  set  over  the  East,  was  a 
violent  Arian  and  a bitter  persecutor. 


^ He  had  to  part  with  Nisibis  (which  James  the  Bishop  had  defended 
with  his  prayers,  Theod.  ii.  30)  and  with  five  provinces  : the  Roman  Ter- 
minus  began  to  retire. 

3°  Julian  had  substituted  the  old  standard,  S.  P,  Q.  R. 


444 


History  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

TIMES  OF  VALENS:  SECTS  AND  SCHISMS. 

It  has  been  intimated,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that  the  return 
of  the  exiles  under  Julian  was  favorable  on  the  whole  to  the 
Prospect  Catholic  cause.  In  face  of  a common  foe  there  was  a 
o/  Peace,  disposition,  on  the  part  of  good  men  at  least,  to  forget 
past  quarrels,  to  avoid  new  grounds  of  difference,  and  to  close  up 
if  possible  the  Church’s  broken  ranks. 

The  chief  exception  to  this  rule  was  among  the  Christians 
of  North  Africa.  The  Donatists  in  that  region*  were  a sect 
African  Hved  on  turbulence : to  persecute  or  be  perse- 

Church.  cuted  was  a necessity  of  their  existence.  The  Em- 

peror Constans  had  tried  to  win  them  to  unity  by  sending  two 
commissioners  or  peace-makers,’  armed  with  liberal  donations 
to  the  suffering  poor;  but  the  leaders  of  the  faction,  regarding 
his  benevolence  as  a bribe,  roused  their  rustic  militia,  the  Cir- 
cumcellions  to  such  a pitch  of  frenzy,  that  with  their  war-cry, 
Deo  latides,  and  with  their  war-clubs,  called  Israels , they  began  a 
ruthless  massacre  of  the  upper  classes  of  society,  and 
subdued.,  it  required  no  little  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Romati 

A.D.  349.  pQyygj-  |-Q  repress  them.  Repressed  they  were,  however, 

after  multitudes  had  been  slaughtered  or  had  slain  themselves. ^ 
With  the  method  of  peace-making  adopted  in  this  instance 
the  Church  had  nothing  to  do,  either  in  wish,  word  or  deed  ” 

* See  Book  III.  chap.  iv.  of  this  History. 

* Operatores  unitatis. 

3 The  Circumcellions  threw  themselves  from  cliffs,  etc.,  as  a kind  of  mar- 
tyrdom. S.  Optat.  De  Schism.  Donat,  iii.  4. 

4 Optatus  proves  that  the  Donatists  provoked  persecution ; that  they 
merely  suffered  their  deserts  as  evil-doers  ; and  that  Catholics  had  no  part  in 


Times  of  Valens : Sects  and  Schisms.  445 

but  she  was  not  the  less  glad  to  be  delivered  from  a sect  which 
armed  debtors  against  their  creditors  and  slaves  against  their 
masters,  and  made  simple  folk  believe  that  the  Catholics  had 
set  up  idols  upon  their  Altars.^  The  deliverance,  moreover, 
seemed  to  be  complete.  ‘‘Schism  was  at  an  end,  and  even  the 
pagans  refrained  from  their  sacrilegious  rites : the  devil  moaned 
in  his  temples,  the  Donatists  in  foreign  parts.'* 

Unity  thus  obtained  could  not  but  prove  precarious.  The 
accession  of  Julian  opened  the  doors  of  the  idol-temples  and 
brought  back  the  Donatists.  Hosts  of  embittered  Donatists 
zealots  poured  in  from  the  remoter  districts  and 
swarmed  in  every  town.  The  Catholics  shrank  at  once  into  a 
trembling  minority.  Robbed  of  their  churches  and  cemeteries, 
their  altars  and  altar-plate,  their  sacred  books,  veils.  Their 
palls,  nay  of  their  very  Christian  name — for  their  bap- 
tism  was  called  a nullity  and  their  prayers  a profanation  : they 
could  hardly  extort  an  Ave  from  their  churlish  adversaries,^  but 
were  saluted  instead  with  a sharp  “Turn  ye,  turn  ye — Be  Chris- 
tians— Save  your  souls,"  or  other  exhortations  to  a like  startling 
effect. 7 By  such  persecution  households  were  divided,  and  the 
Church  was  thrown  into  a state  of  miserable  depression. 

But  in  other  parts  of  the  world  the  work  of  reconciliation 
was  at  least  begun.  S.  Athanasius,  returning  to  his  See  upon 
the  death  of  George,  with  Eusebius  of  Vercellae  and  ^ ^ 

other  exiles,®  held  a Council  at  Alexandria;  in  ^h\c\\ Alexandria, 
it  was  determined  that  naught  should  be  required  of 
converts  to  Church  unity,  save  to  confess  the  Nicene  Faith  and 
abjure  the  Arian  and  other  heresies. 

the  severities  against  them.  He  challenges  them  to  name  one  Deacon,  Priest 
or  Bishop,  who  had  instigated  or  sanctioned  the  use  of  force  (ii.  14).  Yet 
Milman,  by  a gross  misconception  of  Optat.  iii.  6,  tries  to  make  it  appear  that 
the  Catholics  not  only  sanctioned,  but  “ proudly  vindicated  their  barbarities.” 
Hist,  of  Christ.  B.  III.  chap.  i.  towards  the  end. 

5 Donatist  calumnies  were  almost  without  number.  Optat.  passim. 

^Optatus  (iv.  5)  in  the  spirit  of  true  charity  argues  that  Donatists  and 
Catholics  are  brethren  ; and  pleads  with  the  former  for  fraternal  kindness. 

^ Optat.  iii.  II.  sgQcrat.  iii.  5-7,  9. 


446 


History  of  the  Church. 

Armed  with  this  wise  and  charitable  decree,  Eusebius  repaired 
to  Antioch,  to  allay  the  dissensions  which  had  continued  to 
Schism  in  prcvail  there  ever  since  the  deposition  of  Eustathius.® 
Antioch.  seemed  easy,  for  Eustathius  was  dead,  and 

Meletius,  the  then  incumbent,  had  proved  his  orthodoxy  by  a 
singularly  bold  and  unequivocal  confession.”  But  the  Eusta- 
Meietius  Were  sour  and  impracticable;  and  Lucifer  of 

Cagliari,  another  returned  exile,  had  made  them  still 

Pauhnus. 

worse  by  ordaining  for  them  a Bishop  of  the  name  of 
Paulinus.  Hence  a cankerous  feud,  the  irritation  of  which 
extended  East  and  West  to  all  parts  of  the  Church.”  Lucifer 
The  was  rebuked  by  Eusebius  for  his  untimely  interference. 
Luci/ertans.  served  to  increase  the  difficulty.  He 

proudly  held  aloof  from  all  efforts  at  conciliation,  and  became 
leader  of  a small  sect  known  as  the  Luciferians. 

The  West  was  more  ripe  for  the  healing  ministry  of  Eusebius. 
Liberius  of  Rome  concurred  in  the  decrees  of  Alexandria ; and 
The  West  Hilary  of  Poitiers,”  with  other  kindred  spirits,  set  up 
pacified.  light  of  truth  and  dispelled  the  mists  of  contro- 

versy in  the  Churches  of  Illyricum,  Italy,  and  Gaul.  Those  who 
had  swallowed  the  baits  of  Constantius  at  Milan,  or  had  been 
entangled  in  his  nets  at  the  Council  of  Ariminum,  penitently 
acknowledged,  or  plausibly  excused,  their  error ; and,  in  spite 
of  the  opposition  of  a few  hot-heads,  were  readily  received  into 
favor.  Auxentius  of  Milan  alone  held  out.  But  the  Emperor 
Valentinian,  a cordial  hater  of  Church  quarrels,  ob- 
taining from  him  a confession  that  looked  orthodox, 
permitted  him  to  remain  in  possession  of  his  See ; and,  that 
he  might  remain  in  quiet,  ordered  Hilary,  his  chief  accuser,  to 
withdraw  from  the  city. 

9Theod.  iii.  4,  5;  Sozom.  v.  13. 

Meletius,  though  appointed  by  Arian  influence,  had  in  his  first  sermon 
confessed  the  true  Faith ; for  which  he  was  exiled  by  Constantius,  and  came 
back  under  Julian.  Socrat.  ii.  44. 

**  Rome  and  the  West  took  the  side  of  Paulinus : and  even  S.  Athana- 
sius was  drawn  in  the  same  direction  by  his  sympathy  with  the  Eustathians. 

*2  Socrat.  iii.  lo. 


Times  of  Valens  : Sects  and  Schisms.  447 

With  its  own  faith  established,  the  West  had  soon  an  oppor- 
tunity to  confirm  the  faith  of  a large  number  of  the  Eastern 
brethren.  By  the  leave  of  Valentinian,*^  certain  Semi- 
arian  Bishops  of  Bithynia  and  Thrace  had  met  at  u^dyfu 
Lampsacus,  condemned  the  Creed  of  Ariminum,  ap- 
proved  the  Formulary  of  Antioch,  and  reiterated  the 
Confession  of  the  Homoiousion.  Being  persecuted  for  this  by 
the  Emperor  Valens,  they  determined  to  have  recourse  to  the 
alliance  of  the  West.  Three  deputies  were  sent  to  Valentinian 
and  to  Liberius  of  Rome.  It  was  earnestly  declared  that  in 
using  the  word  Homoiousion  they  meant  nothing  contrary  to 
the  Creed  of  Nicaea.  They  were  perfectly  willing,  therefore,  to 
abandon  the  term.  Finally,  they  drew  up  a formal  Nicene 
paper  in  which  all  evasions  were  condemned,  and  the  a!d' 
Faith  of  the  Three  Hundred  and  Eighteen  was  declared  ^65, 367- 

to  be  that  ‘‘  which  they  had  held  all  along,  still  held,  and  would 
ever  hold  thereafter.”*^  A Council  in  Sicily  confirmed  their  decla- 
ration. Another  at  Tyana  pursued  the  same  course.  The  letter 
which  Liberius  had  written  in  answer  to  the  paper  of  the  East- 
ern Deputies  was  commended  to  the  faithful  everywhere ; and 
an  effort  was  made  to  assemble  another  Synod  at  Tarsus  in 
Cilicia,  with  a view  to  the  complete  and  final  settlement  of  all 
questions  in  dispute. 

Valens  interfered ; forbade  the  proposed  Council  to  assem- 
ble ; and  gave  a general  order  for  the  banishment  of  all  Bishops 
who  had  been  restored  to  their  Sees  by  the  edict  of  Vaiens 
Julian.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a persecution  in 
which  the  pagans  also  suffered,  many  of  their  philosophers 
being  put  to  death  or  banished  for  treasonable  divinations.*^ 

*3  In  answer  to  their  application  the  Emperor  said,  “ I am  only  a simple 
layman.  Let  the  priests  see  to  Church  affairs,  and  assemble  where  they  please.” 
Sozom.  vi.  7. 

Sozom.  vi.  10-12. 

*5  Theodoras,  a young  Secretary  at  court,  consulted  the  soothsayers  as  to 
the  name  of  the  next  Emperor.  The  letters  0,  E,  0,  A,  turned  up.  Hence 
a great  agitation  both  in  the  Eastern  and  Western  courts.  Immense  num- 


448 


History  of  the  Church. 

Athanasius  could  plead  that  he  was  not  one  of  those  restored 
under  Julian : on  the  contrary,  when  he  had  returned  after  the 
death  of  George,  the  tyrant  had  forced  ‘‘the  meddling  manni- 
kin,” as  he  called  him,  to  flee  in  haste  from  the  city.  But  this 
availed  nothing  with  Valens.  The  Saint  was  obliged  to  hide 
himself  again.  So  strong,  however,  was  the  terror 

Athanasius  \ , 

retires^  inspired  by  his  name"®  and  so  general  the  conviction 
* of  his  secret  power,  that  the  Arians  themselves  began 
to  think  better  of  it,  and  brought  the  Emperor  over  to  the  same 
opinion.  He  was  soon  allowed,  therefore,  to  resume  his  See, 
and  the  persecution  turned  upon  other  victims. 

The  violence  of  this  last  effort  of  Arianism  may  be  estimated 
by  the  fact  that  on  one  occasion,  when  eighty  priests  were 
Cruelty  of  deputed  to  deprecate  the  Emperor’s  wrath,  they  were 
Valens,  Ordered  into  exile,  with  secret  instructions  from 

the  court  that  the  vessel  which  conveyed  them  should  be  set  on 
fire.  The  order  was  executed,  and  the  priests  all  perished.*^ 
Under  such  a tyrant  the  Church  fell  naturally  into  new  distrac- 
tions, and  heresies  hitherto  latent  or  harmless  were  fretted,  as  it 
were,  into  a baleful  life.  A few  of  the  more  prominent  of  these 
may  here  be  noticed. 

First : There  were  some  that  sprang  from  an  overstrained 
and  feverish  orthodoxy.  Such  was  the  error  of  Marcellus  and 
Heresies  Photinus,  wlio  to  save  the  Divinity  of  the  Word  sacri- 
'Ortho^dox  flced  the  truth  of  His  Personality."®  In  somewhat  the 
same  spirit,  the  Luciferians  and  Eustathians  made 
schism  seem  right  by  using  it  in  the  service  of  a righteous  cause. 

bers  of  philosophers  were  imprisoned,  many  were  put  to  death — chiefly  on 
information  extorted  by  the  rack.  Zosim.  iv.  13-15;  Ammian.  xxviii.  i; 
xxix.  1-3. 

Sozom.  vi.  12.  *7  Sozom.  vi.  14. 

Photinus  made  **  the  immanent oxdi^*  impersonal:  but  he  avoided 
Patripassianism  by  distinguishing  between  the  Word  and  the  Son,  applying 
the  latter  term  to  the  incarnate  Christ  only.  Marcellus  towards  the  end  of  his 
life  explained  his  heresy,  but  not  in  a satisfactory  way.  “ S.  Athanasius 
neither  cleared  him,  nor  harshly  condemned  him,  but  smiling  seemed  to 
think  he  had  cleared  himself.”  S.  Epiphan.  Op.  p.  837,  ed.  Petav. 


.Times  of  V'alens  : Sects  and  Schisms.  449 

Athanasius  disapproved  these  extravagances  of  his  friends  and 
followers ; but  party  ties  were  too  strong,  and  his  heart  was  too 
generous  and  charitable,  to  allow  him  to  repudiate  the  author 
of  them.  Another  warm  friend  of  his,  the  poet  and  scholar 
Apollinaris,*^  thought  to  make  sure  of  the  Divinity  of 
Christ  by  denying  to  the  nature  He  assumed  a rational  xhetry 
soul.  The  Logos,  eternally  a Person  and  eternally 
imbodied,  being  eternally  indeed  the  Son  of  Man  in  Heaven, 
assumed  the  earthly  or  psychical  part  of  our  nature,  and  so  be- 
came visibly  the  Son  of  Man : the  heavenly  or  rational  part  He 
had  no  need  to  assume.  Such  were  some  of  the  heresies  that 
sprang  from  an  abuse  of  logic  on  the  orthodox  side.  The  men- 
tal bias,  of  which  they  are  exponents,  led  in  the  course  of  the 
next  century  to  a very  extensive  adoption  of  the  Monophysite 
error. 

Secondly : Of  the  spawn  of  Arius,  there  were  many  minor 
sects^n  addition  to  the  three  leading  schools  described 
in  a previous  chapter.  Aerius,  one  of  those  reformers 
who  attempt  to  sweep  the  house  without  being  at  the 
pains  to  light  the  candle,  denied  the  superiority  of  Bishops 
over  Presbyters,  the  lawfulness  of  oblations  made  for  the  de- 
parted, and  the  religious  obligation  of  Fasts  and 

. r 1 Eunomius, 

Feasts.  Eunomius,  one  of  the  same  sort,  taught  a 
solifidian  doctrine,  and  introduced  the  practice  of  a single^ 
immersion  in  Baptism,  with  a discipline  quite  novel  in  other  re- 
spects. Macedonius  denied  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


Arian 
Sects  : 

Aerius, 


'9  The  heresy  was  condemned  in  the  Council  of  Alexandria,  but  without 
mention  of  the  name  of  Apollinaris.  Athanasius  also  wrote  against  the 
heresy,  but  with  a like  reserve.  For  an  account  of  Apollinaris,  see  Soz.  vi. 
25-27. 

*oSozom.  vi.  26.  In  Bagster’s  ed.  of  the  Ch.  Historians  the  important 
word  single  is  omitted.  The  common  practice  in  the  East  was  trine  im- 
mersion. 

**  For  the  different  theories  of  ‘‘wise  men”  on  this  subject  see  Greg. 
Nazianz.  de  Spirit.  Sanct.  Orat.  xxxi. 


450 


History  of  the  Church. 

Such  an  error  would  necessarily  flow  from  Arian  premises ; but, 
Macedo-  it  Seemed  to  open  a new  and  untrodden  path,  it 
rapidly  drew  off  the  remnants  of  the  more  obstinate 
Semiarians. 

To  errors  of  this  kind  may  be  added  the  misunderstandings” 
that  arose  from  the  use  of  the  word  Hypostasis.  As  there  were 
The  Term  some  who  held  it  to  mean  Substance^  and  others. 
Hypostasis,  thosc  who  spoke  of  one  Hypostasis  and  those 

who  spoke  of  three  might  accuse  one  another  respectively  of  the 
Tritheist,  or  the  Sabellian,  heresy.  The  Council  of  Nicsea  had 
avoided  the  use  of  the  word,  and  more  recently  the  pacific 
Synod  of  Alexandria  had  endeavored  to  discourage  it.  But  in 
spite  of  all  efforts  it  continued  to  be  used,  and  helped  to  irritate 
the  quarreP^  between  the  East  and  West. 

Thirdly  : there  were  heresies  that  sprang  from  superstition : 
others  that  arose  from  an  enthusiastic  protest  against  offences 
Minor  of  timcs.  The  Collyridians,  an  Arabian  sec^wor- 

Errors,  shipped  the  blessed  Virgin"*^  with  altars,  priestesses, 
processions,  and  offerings  of  cakes.  The  Antidicomarians  im- 
pugned her  virgin  purity.  The  Massalians,  averse  to  priests 
and  sacraments,  professed  a life  of  inward  and  incessant  prayer. "*5 
The  Audians,  a hard  monastic  sect,  hated  Bishops  and  rich 
men,  and  interpreted  the  Scriptures  so  grossly  as  to  clothe  the 
Supreme  Being  in  a human  form. 

In  the  West  the  Manichaeans  were  still  busy ; and  the  Pris- 
cillianists,  against  the  earnest  protest  of  S.  Martin  of  Heresies  in 
Tours, had  to  be  repressed  by  the  secular  arm.  They 
gave  much  trouble  in  Gaul  and  Spain.  In  Rome,  Jovinian, 

“Socrat.  iii.  7. 

=3  The  West  spake  of  one^  the  East  of  three:  so  in  the  Church  of  Antioch, 
the  Meletians  held  with  the  East,  the  Paulinists  with  the  West. 

24  S.  Epiphan.  Hceres,  58,  59,  or  78,  79. 

25  The  access  of  the  Spirit  among  them  was  indicated  by  quakings^  con- 
vulsions ^ etc.  Theod.  iv.  10,  ii. 

26  The  first  infliction  of  death  for  heresy — A.D.  384. 


Times  of  Valens  : Sects  and  Schisms.  45 1 

a Milanese  monk,*^  renounced  the  austerities  of  his  profession 
as  unprofitable,  held  ^‘once  in  grace’*  to  mean  ‘‘always  in 
grace,”  declaimed  against  the  prevalent  belief  with  regard  to 
the  superiority  of  the  virgin  life,  and  adopted  the  Stoic  tenet 
that  all  sins  are  equal. 

* In  short,  private  judgment  ran  riot  amid  the  anarchy  of 
controversy,  so  that  even  S.  Epiphanius,""®  after  cataloguing  the 
queens  and  concubines  of  the  distracted  realm  of  heresy,  vagaries 
found  his  patience  spent : and  was  obliged  to  dismiss  without 

, - , . 1 1 -I  umber, 

a host  of  the  more  frivolous  extravagances  under  the 
general  head  of  virgins  without  number — so  countless  were  the 
vagaries  in  which  the  religious  world  indulged. 

Amid  such  license  of  opinion,  embittered,  not  repressed,  by 
the  strong  hand  of  the  civil  power,  the  position  of  true  men 
was  uncomfortable  in  the  extreme.  To  was  to  Trials  of 
make  one’s  self  the  butt  of  calumny  or  suspicion ; Times, 

and  the  wolves  that  muddled  the  stream  were  the  foremost  to 

* 

abuse  the  lambs  that  sought  it  only  to  slake  their  thirst.  To  be 
orthodox  was  to  be  called  Sabellian,  Tritheist,  Apollinarian, 
Macedonian.^  It  was  a strife  in  which  every  man’s  hand  was 

^ His  movement  was  quite  popular  in  Rome,  where  there  was  a strong 
revulsion  of  feeling  against  the  austere  teachings  of  S.  Jerome.  Jovinian  was 
condemned  in  the  year  389. 

S.  Epiphanius,  the  great  authority  on  heresies,  was  a man  of  the  highest 
repute  for  holiness  and  learning — a type  of  prhnitive  piety.  Born  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  he  lived  till  near  its  close.  Learning  the 
monastic  life  in  Egypt,  he  practised  it  in  Palestine  where  he  founded  a mon- 
astery, and  adorned  it  by  the  mild  dignity  of  his  episcopal  rule  in  Salamis  the 
metropolis  of  Cyprus.  Towards  the  end  of  his  life  he  took  part  in  the  Ori- 
genistic  controversy,  siding  against  Origen.  In  his  great  work  he  makes  the 
sixty  queens  (Canticles  vi.  8,  9)  to  have  been  sixty  generations  before  Christ, 
the  eighty  concubines  eighty  chief  heresies,  the  virgins  without  nuttiber  (by 
a play  upon  the  word)  to  be  the  juvenile  vagaries  so  common  in  his  times, 
and  the  one  Dove^  of  course,  the  Church  and  the  true  Faith. 

^ S.  Basil  complains  much  on  this  score.  If  he  cleared  himself  on  one 
side  he  was  immediately  attacked  on  the  other.  S.  Basil.  Cses.  Epistol.  189; 
So  also  S.  Jerome,  Epistol.  15;  ‘‘Confiteor  utvolunt,  non  placet.  Subscribo, 
non  credunt,”  etc. 


452  History  of  the  Church. 

against  his  neighbor;  in  which  men  argued  with  their  teeth 
rather  than  with  their  tongues/* 

Even  the  Latin  Church  was  more  or  less  disturbed,  partly 
by  vile  struggles  for  place  and  power,  partly  by  the  impatience 
„ of  the  ultra-orthodox;  and  the  name  of  Damasus, 

Pope  ' 

Damasus,  the  able  successor  of  Liberius,  was  stained  by  barbar- 

A.D.  366.  . . ^ 

ous  massacres  of  the  followers  of  Ursicinus,^  his  com- 
petitor for  what  was  already  the  rich  prize  of  the  See  of  Rome. 
In  the  main,  however,  the  West  presented  a firm  front,  now 
attracting,  now  chilling  and  repelling,  the  more  fervid  East. 
s.  Jerome,  Among  tliose  who  were  attracted,  the  name  of  S. 
A.D.  377.  Jerome  is  conspicuous  at  this  period.  Against  ‘^the 
foxes,  the  little  foxes  that  spoil  the  vines**;  amid  the  word- 
battles  of  the  Hypostases  or  the  more  serious  questions  started 
by  Apollinaris ; his  impatient  and  intolerant  spirit  felt  the  need 
of  a strong  voice  and  strong  arm  : and  such  strength  he  sought 
in  ‘‘the  uncorrupt  see,**  the  stronghold  of  the  faith  and^f  the 
authority  of  S.  Peter. 3'  Accordingly,  Damasus  was  encouraged 
to  take  high  ground  with  the  East,  and  increased  the  difficulties 
at  Antioch  by  siding  against  Meletius  in  favor  of  Pau- 

Schtsm  in  J o o 

Antiock,  linus.  Both  of  these  Bishops,  however,  were  in  exile 

A.D.  378. 

at  the  time.  When  they  returned,  on  the  death  of 
Valens,  Meletius  proposed  that  they  should  occupy  together  the 
Episcopal  chair, 3®  and  whichever  died  first  the  survivor  should 
be  his  successor.  But  Paulinus  would  not  act  without  consult- 
ing Damasus,  and  the  friendly  proposition  seems  to  have  been 
rejected. 

30  Which  of  the  two  was  canonically  elected  is  still  sub  Hie,  though  the 
evidence  extant  favors  Damasus.  Ammianus  attributes  the  quarrel  to  the 
pride  and  luxury  in  which  the  Roman  Bishops  lived — a luxury,  he  remarks, 
more  than  hnperial.  Ammian.  xxvii.  To  the  same  effect  is  the  famous 
speech  of  Praetextatus  (a  pagan  of  high  rank)  to  Pope  Damasus : “ Make  me 
Bishop  of  Rome,  and  I will  turn  Christian.”  Tillemont,  iii.  2. 

3*  S.  Hieronym.  Op.  tom.  iv.  Epistoll.  15,  16. 

32  The  speech  of  Meletius  on  this  occasion  was  worthy  of  the  saintly 
character  universally  attributed  to  him.  Theod.  v.  3. 


Times  of  Valens  : Sects  and  Schisms.  45  3 

It  was  about  four  years  later  that  S.  Jerome  took  up  his 
abode  in  Rome,  and  devoted  himself  to  labors  by  which  the 
power  of  that  see  was  in  the  end  most  wonderfully  ^ j^rome 
strengthened.  A Dalmatian  by  birth,  a Syrian  monk 
by  education,  he  was  a powerful  promoter  of  the 
ascetic  and  monastic  life.  Finding  ordinary  severities  to  fail 
in  subduing  the  heat  of  his  nature,  he  had  given  much  time  to 
the  study  of  Hebrew,  and  was  a Biblical  scholar  and  interpreter 
of  the  highest  order.  His  austerity  of  character  caused  him  to 
be  hated  by  the  heathen  of  Rome,  and  not  much  beloved  by  the 
Christians.  With  the  devout  and  noble  women,  how-  Ascetic 
ever,  the  Paulas,  Fabiolas,  Marcellas,  he  was  an  oracle 
and  almost  an  idol,  teaching  them  to  adorn  the  pride  of  vir- 
ginity with  the  pride  of  learning,  and  encouraging  them  in 
severities  unsuited  to  the  sex  or  to  the  state  of  public  opinion. 
Paula,  a noble  widow,  and  her  daughters  Eustochium  and  Bles- 
illa,  were  among  his  disciples.  Blesilla,  brought  to  the  Death  of 
verge  of  the  grave  by  a fever,  adopted  a course  of  ^lestiia. 
fasting  which  soon  put  an  end  to  her  existence.  The  Romans 
regarded  this  as  little  better  than  religious  suicide  ; and,  on  the 
death  of  Damasus,  his  patron,  Jerome  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  city. 

The  fruits  of  asceticism  which  had  proved  too  sour  for 
Roman  taste  at  that  time  were  afterwards  matured  in  the  more 
congenial  air  of  the  East:  in  a different  state  of  things,  with 
the  growth  of  new  wants  in  the  Church,  and  with  the  develop- 
ment of  monasticism  in  a form  more  obviously  useful,  they 
were  found  more  acceptable  to  the  Western  mind,  and  may  be 
counted  among  the  chief  elements  of  the  growth  of  Latin 
Christianity. 


454 


History  *of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  X. 

S.  BASIL  AND  S.  GREGORY. 

Amid  the  difficulties  described  in  the  previous  chapter  the 
cause  of  orthodoxy  was  sustained  in  the  East,  first  of  all  by  S. 

. Athanasius,  and  after  him  mainly  by  S.  Basil  of  Cse- 

ChdfftptOH^ 

sarea  in  Cappadocia;  by  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  his 
brother ; by  S.  Gregory  of  Nazianzus,  surnamed  the 
Theologian,  his  bosom  friend,  and  by  that  true  knight-errant 
of  the  faith  who  went  about  ordaining  Bishops  wherever  he 
could  place  them,  Eusebius*  of  Samosata.  Of  these,  the  two 
friends  Basil  and  Nazianzen  are  remarkable  examples  of  the 
spirit  and  temper  in  which  the  trials  of  the  age  were  met. 

Basil  was  a man  of  genius  and  a scholar,  among  the  fore- 
most of  the  Fathers  in  eloquence,  learning,  and  devotion  to  the 
^ cause  of  Christ.*  The  Emperor  Julian,  who  knew 

and  Julian,  ^t  Athens,  attempted  on  his  accession  to 

draw  him  to  the  Court.  But  his  overtures  were  rejected  ; and 
a sharp  correspondence  ensuing  between  the  two,^  the  Saint  was 
in  some  danger  of  suffering  for  his  temerity.  Indeed  it  was 
thought  the  tyrant  spared  him  only  as  Cyclops  spared  Ulysses, 
that  the  pains  of  death  might  be  embittered  by  the  torture  of  a 
long  suspense. 

In  the  meanwhile  Caesarea,  where  he  labored  as  a Presbyter, 
a capital  of  no  little  importance  in  Church  and  State,  once  the 
Casarea  home  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  and  in  course  of  time 
Punished.  centre  of  some  fifty  suffragan  sees,  had  fallen  un- 
der the  particular  displeasure  of  Julian,  and  was  paying  the  penr 

* Theod.  ii.  32;  iv.  14;  v.  4. 

*Sozom.  vi.  15-17;  Socrat.  iv.  26;  Theod.  iv.  19. 

3S.  Basil.  Epistoll.  39-41. 


S.  Basil  and  S.  Gregory. 


455 


alty  of  its  zeal  against  idolatry  in  the  forfeiture  of  its  name  and 
place  as  a city,  and  in  heavy  fines  imposed  upon  its  principal 
inhabitants. 

It  was  in  danger  of  suffering  still  more  from  the  excitement 
of  an  episcopal  election.  The  See  being  vacant,  party  spirit 
ran  so  high  that  for  awhile  no  choice  could  be  made.^  ^ 

At  length. Eusebius,  a sober  layman,  but  as  yet  unbap-  Eufaln 
tized,  was  called  to  the  archiepiscopal  chair  by  an  in- 
stinct of  the  people;  and  the  Bishops  of  the  Province  reluc- 
tantly ratified  the  choice  and  carried  it  into  effect.  Things 
turned  out  better  than  might  have  been  expected.  Eusebius 
Eusebius  proved  an  earnest  and  sound-minded  pastor. 

But  from  some  cause  or  other,  perhaps  from  the  inability  of  a 
rude  hand  to  handle  a tool  so  finely  edged,  the  Bishop  was  not 
on  good  terms  with  his  able  Presbyter:  there  was  a Two 
Basil  party  and  a party  of  Eusebius ; and  a bad  breach  Parties. 
would  have  ensued,  had  not  Basil  retired  into  the  wilderness, 
betaking  himself,  like  Hagar,  to  the  society  of  good  angels  and 
good  thoughts. 

He  retired  to  the  wilderness,  but  by  no  means  to  a desert. 
The  spirit  that  led  the  first  monks  to  choose  the  most  BasiPs 
dreary  spots,  for  greater  convenience  of  combating  the 
demons,  was  now  giving  way  to  a more  genial  and  practical 
turn  of  mind.  Basil’s  retreat  was  a charming  mountain  home, 
inhabited  by  one  upon  whom  none  of  its  charms  were  lost.^ 
There,  in  company  with  his  friend  Nazianzen  who  was  per- 
suaded after  a while  to  share  his  rest,  he  prayed  and  mused  and 
studied ; making  laws  at  the  same  time  for  the  communities  of 
monks  which  soon  began  to  look  to  him  as  their  ablest  Monastic 
leader.  His  lessons  infused  a new  spirit  into  the  Cen- 
obites.  Among  other  good  things,  he  taught  them  the  spiritual 

This  disturbance  led  Nazianzen  to  wish  that  the  right  of  election  might 
be  taken  from  the  people  : such  matters,  he  thought,  were  managed  better  in 
the  State  than  in  the  Church.  Or  at,  xix.  in  Fun.  Patris. 

5 S.  Basil.  Epistol.  xiv.  etc. ; S.  Greg.  Nazianz.  Epist.  vii.  etc.  The  en- 
thusiasm of  Basil  in  his  descriptions  of  natural  scenery  is  finely  set  off  by  the 


456 


History  of  the  Church. 


beauty  of  agriculture  no  fruit  so  bitter  that  care  will  not  im- 
prove it,  no  soil  so  sterile  that  it  cannot  be  reclaimed,  no  heart 

TXT.,  so  wicked  that  one  need  despair  of  it.  With  the 

derntss  Same  instiuct  for  the  useful,  he  made  the  wilderness  to 

blooms,  i • 1 • • 

bloom  with  noble  charities.  His  preaching  circuits  ex- 
tended through  the  whole  country  round  about ; and  wherever 
he  preached,  societies  sprang  up  for  benevolence  or  devotion, 
hospitals  were  endowed,  while,  by  the  training  of  skilled  choirs, 
the  dull  hearts  of  the  Pontic  peasantry  were  made  to  laugh  and 
sing. 

The  necessities  of  the  times  recalled  him  to  Caesarea,  where 
he  was  reconciled  to  his  Bishop  and  became  his  successor.  This 
Basil  was  not  effected  without  opposition  : there  being  a 
^fhop,  great  party  against  him,  and  the  Saint  himself  plead- 
A.D.  370.  illness,  inability,  constitutional  infirmity,  and  the 

like;  to  all  which  the  staunch  old  Gregory  Nazianzen,^  the 
father  of  Basil's  friend,  replied  that  they  wanted  a Bishop,  not 
a prize-fighter,  and  that  God  was  able  to  convert  weakness  into 
strength.  He  was  finally  elected  ; and  from  that  day  his  labors, 
cares,  and  trials  went  on  in  a line  of  fearful  accumulation. 

He  had  been  almost  broken  down  before  he  came  to  the 
Episcopate,  by  distresses  among  the  people  of  Caesarea : storms. 
Sufferings  famines,  had  raged  through  Cappadocia, 

and  upon  Basil  had  devolved  the  labor  of  unlocking 
the  hearts  of  the  rich  and  filling  the  mouths  of  the 
clamorous  poor.  This  was  to  plough  in  hard  ground  and  to 
sow  in  stony  places : there  sprang  from  it,  nevertheless,  not  im- 


Coesarea, 


broad  humor  of  Nazianzen,  who — though  really  much  more  of  a poet — de- 
lights to  throw  cold  water  on  the  ardor  of  his  friend. 

^ In  Hexaem.  Horn.  v.  Basil  also  recommends  carpentry,  shoemaking, 
medicine,  etc.  Lib,  ReguL  xxxviii.  Iv. 

7 The  elder  Gregory,  whose  praises  with  those  of  his  devout  wife  are 
eloquently  given  by  his  son,  was  originally  a member  of  the  Hypsisterian  sect 
— a sort  of  half  Jewish,  half  heathen,  society,  “worshippers  of  the  Most 
High*’ — and  after  coming  into  the  Church  had  to  work  his  way  up  to  the 
truth  through  Arianism.  Oral.  xix.  in  Fun.  Patris, 


S.  Basil  and  S.  Gregory. 


457 


S.  Basil 
and  the 
Emperor. 


mediate  relief  merely,  but  hospitals,  monastic  associations  which 
now  began  to  flourish  in  the  atmosphere  of  cities,  and  other  like 
provisions  for  the  sick®  and  needy. 

S.  Basil  was  more  than  once  persecuted  by  the  Emperor  and 
his  ministers.  Especially,  on  one  occasion,  when  a widow 
claimed  the  right  of  sanctuary  in  the  Church  against 
the  tyrannical  wooing  of  Eusebius,  an  uncle  of  the 
Empress,  he  felt  bound  to  maintain  her  cause  at  the 
peril  of  his  life.  But  to  a man  of  disciplined  courage,  and  who 
had  moreover  a thorn  in  his  side  in  the  shape  of  ‘‘a  trouble- 
some liver,’’  trials  of  this  kind  were  comparatively  easy.  Nor 
could  he  be  subdued  by  the  promise  of  favor  at  court.  When 
the  Emperor,  on  a visit  to  Caesarea,  attended  Church  during 
the  solemn  services  of  the  Epiphany,  and  went  up  to  make  his 
offering  in  view  of  a dense  congregation,  not  a hand  was 
stretched  out  to  receive  his  gift : the  master  of  the  world  stood 
before  the  Altar  and  the  Archbishop  an  impenitent  sinner,  and 
as  such  had  no  right  to  offer.  The  spirit  displayed  on  this  and 
like  occasions  was  (humanly  speaking)  the  best  safeguard  against 
a tyrant  such  as  Valens. 

A severer  trial  was  the  factious  spirit  which  reigned  in  Cae- 
sarea, and  the  captious,  ungenerous,  and  suspicious  Trials 
temper  that  controversy  had  engendered  among  the 
Clergy.  The  Archbishop’s  mind  was  fruitful  of  new 
plans  for  aiding  or  exciting  the  devotions  of  the  people.  He 
was  a patron  of  monarchism ; he  was  great  in  special  services, 
in  psalmody,  in  vigils,  in  the  ‘‘  decencies  of  the  Altar.”  Hence 
no  little  stir  among  those  whose  traditions  dated  back 

Murmurs 

to  ‘‘the  good  old  times”  of  Gregory  the  Wonder-  aud False 
worker,  and  who  conveniently  forgot  that  their  Saint 
had  himself  been  an  innovator  of  the  liveliest  kind.  The 
Bishops,  in  like  manner,  took  frequent  exceptions  to  his  doc- 
trine. Bred  in  the  school  of  Origen,  familiar  with  the  difficul- 


® His  compassionate  spirit  was  remarkably  shown  in  his  building  a hos- 
pital for  lepers. 


20 


458  History  of  the  Church. 

ties  of  thoughtful  Semiarians,  and  anxious  to  conciliate  all  hon- 
est differences,  he  was  in  his  theology  too  lax  for  some,  too 
strict  for  others,  too  broad  and  philosophic  for  almost  all. 
Hence  attacks  so  numerous  and  calumnies  so  petty  and  spiteful, 
that  he  was  tempted  to  say,  with  the  Psalmist,  All  men  are  liars ^ 
and  to  doubt  whether  honesty  and  charity  had  not  taken  their 
flight  from  the  earth.  But  in  the  deep  and  tranquil  soul  of  the 
great  Athanasius  he  found  a ready  and  cordial  appreciation. 
When  some  one  wrote  to  the  noble  Alexandrian,  complaining 
of  Basil’s  ‘^Macedonian  tendencies,”  he  told  the  doubters  to 
put  away  their  fears  and  thank  God  for  having  given  them  so 
Pride  of  glorious”  a Bishop.^  The  Churchmen  of  the  West, 
the  West,  contrary,  were  among  the  chief  plagues  of  his 

life.  They  either  held  aloof  in  a “supercilious”  spirit,*®  or,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  schism  in  Antioch,  interfered  in  a mischiev- 
ous and  arbitrary  way.  It  was  not  in  Basil’s  nature  to  bear 
these  things  with  serenity.  But  bear  them  he  did,  however: 
and  though  his  hair  grew  gray  in  the  struggle,  and  his  very 
heart  bled,  he  had  the  Divine  gift  of  extracting  from  his  own 
wounds**  a balm  for  the  wounds  of  others. 

His  friend  Nazianzen  aided  him  in  his  labors,  but  added  to 
his  trials.  For  it  so  happened  that  to  secure  the  services  of  so 
able  a coadjutor,  and  perhaps  to  draw  him  away  from  the  retire- 
Gregory  ment  wliich  he  loved,  Basil  appointed  him — a shep- 
Nazianzen.  without  sheep — Bishop  of  a little  border  town 
called  Sasima : a wretched  sort  of  place,*"*  without  water, 
without  verdure,  full  of  dust  and  noise,  a roost  rather  than  an 

9 S.  Athanas.  ad  Pallad.  Op.  ii.  p.  763. 

He  bitterly  complained  of  dvTiK^g  b(f>pvog — the  superciliousness  of  the 
Westerns — ‘‘  who  neither  knew  the  truth  nor  would  bear  to  learn  it.”  EpistoL 
X.  ad  Greg.  Theolog. 

**  His  Epistles  are  admirable  specimens  of  consolatory  writings — eloquent 
and  full  of  heart. 

*2  Under  a mortified  exterior  Nazianzen  had  a strong  sense  of  humor. 
For  which  reason,  while  I give  his  story  as  he  relates  it,  I am  not  disposed  to 
take  his  complaints  to  the  letter.  Like  a good-natured  traveller,  he  liked  to 


S.  Basil  and  S.  Gregory. 


459 


abode  of  a vagabond  population  of  carriers,  smugglers  and 
revenue  officers.  Gregory  felt  the  unkindness  of  his  friend  in 
consigning  him  to  such  a den,  and  there  fell  a shade  of  misun- 
derstanding upon  one  of  the  noblest  and  most  delightful  of 
Christian  friendships.  Basil's  motive  in  this  has  never  been 
satisfactorily  explained. It  may  have  been,  that  hu  proper 
knowing  his  friend's  mind  to  be  luminous  rather  than 
ministrative,  theological  rather  than  episcopal,  he  thought  to 
give  him  the  dignity  of  the  Bishopric  without  burdening  him 
with  its  pomps  and  cares : a candle,  to  give  light,  must  be  set 
upon  a candlestick,  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  candlestick 
should  be  of  gold. 

However  this  may  be,  Sasima  profited  little  by  the  Nazian- 
zen  luminary,  and  the  world  gained  much.  Driven  from  the 
place  by  its  thriftless  population,  he  retired  to  Nazi-  Gregory 
anzus,  where  he  assisted  his  father  so  long  as  the  latter 
lived,  and  after  his  death  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of 
the  Episcopate  without  formally  accepting  them.  Thence,  for 
some  reason  not  known,  he  withdrew  to  Seleucia  in  Isauria, 
where  he  lived  awhile  the  life  of  a solitary,  confidently  predict- 
ing*^ and  quietly  awaiting  the  time  when  heresy  should  be 
obliged  to  creep  back  into  its  holes. 

In  the  meantime  Athanasius  the  Great  had  been  summoned 
to  his  rest,  and  the  iron  rod  of  Arianism  had  fallen 
once  more  upon  the  people  of  Alexandria : a heretic  dies^ 
named  Lucius*^  renewed  the  evil  times  of  George ; the  * ’ 
orthodox  Clergy,  with  Peter,  their  elected  Bishop,  were  driven 
into  exile. 

In  the  West,  Ambrose  had  been  chosen  to  the  great  See  of 


have  his  joke  about  the  discomforts  of  the  way,  though  in  reality  he  cared 
little  for  them.  His  complaints  of  Basil  especially  are  relieved  by  gushes  of 
generous  praise.  See  his  poem,  De  Vita  Carmina,  30. 

*3  Sasima  was  in  dispute  between  Basil  and  a neighboring  Metropolitan : 
this,  however,  was  no  good  reason  for  sending  Gregory  there. 

Epistles  to  S,  Greg.  Nyssen.  xxxv.  xxxvi.  cxlii. 

*5Theod.  iv.  21.  22. 


460  History  of  the  Church. 

Milan  in  place  of  the  Arian  Auxentius,  deceased.  He  was  a 
Ambrose  ^-t  the  time  of  his  election;  and,  being 

"^Bhhop  of  Liguria,  was  actually  engaged  in  quelling 

Mi/an,  a riot  brought  on  by  the  zeal  of  rival  factions,  when 
of  a sudden  a child^s  voice  was  heard  crying,  ‘‘Am- 
brose Bishop  1 ’ * The  people  took  up  the  cry,  and  the  popular 
magistrate  pleaded  in  vain  his  moral  and  spiritual  unfitness  for 
the  office ; even  flight  could  not  save  him  : the  only  terms  he 
could  make  were  that  he  should  be  baptized  and  ordained  by 
an  orthodox  prelate.  Milan  was  thus  recovered  to  the  Nicene 
faith,  and  S.  Basil,  among  others,  was  profuse  of  congratu- 
lations. 

Shortly  after  this  event,  Valentinian,  whose  reign  had  been 
Gratian  ^ pcrpetual  struggle  against  the  Alemanni  and  other 
Emperor^  barbarians  of  the  North,  died  suddenly  in  a fit  of  rage 
at  the  ambassadors  of  the  Quadi ; and  Gratian,  with 
Valentinian  II.,  an  infant  four  years  old,  became  sovereign  of 
Vaiensand  ^^st.  Finally,  Valcns  perished  in  war  against  the 
Basil  die,  Gotlis ; Gratian,  now  master  of  the  world,  proclaimed 
toleration  to  all  sects,  except  the  Manichaeans,  Pho- 
tinians,  and  Eunomians  ; Peter  returned  to  Alexandria,  Meletius 
Exiles  to  Antioch,  and  other  exiles  to  other  places ; and 

restored.  towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  Basil  the  Great, 

having  lived  to  see  a gleam  of  temporal  prosperity,  was  taken 
to  a better  and  more  enduring  rest. 

The  change  in  the  political  sky  drew  Gregory  once  more 
from  his  retirement ; and  by  a strange  guidance  of  Providence, 
Gregory  in  which  the  chief  human  agency  was  probably  the 
New  Rome.  Qf  g Basil  and  other  orthodox  Bishops,  his 

steps  were  directed  towards  Constantinople,  with  the  view  of 
gathering  and  rekindling  the  few  sparks  of  faith  which  survived 
in  that  city  among  the  ashes  of  worldliness,  heresy,  and  rampant 
persecution  ; for  things  had  not  altered  for  the  better 

A.D.  360-370. 

in  the  Eastern  capital.  Macedonius  had  been  de- 
posed, but  Eudoxius  had  succeeded  : Eudoxius  had  died,  but 
Demophilus,  at  whose  instigation  eighty  ecclesiastics  had  been 


•S.  Basil  and  S.  Gregory,  461 

put  to  death  by  Valens,  came  into  his  place.  It  was  the  old 
succession  of  the  palmer-worm,  the  locust,  the  canker-worm,  and 
the  caterpillar.  Churches  were  robbed,  private  property  con- 
fiscated, the  very  tombs  despoiled.  The  noble  Church  of  S. 
Sophia  had  become  a citadel  of  Satan,  a camping-ground  of 
demons.  The  men  of  the  city  were  but  Ahabs,  the  women 
were  little  better  than  frantic  Jezebels.*^ 

Into  such  a scene,  gilded  but  not  refined  by  courtly  main- 
ners,  there  entered  a lone  stranger,  bent  with  age  and  wasted 
by  ^disease,  bald-headed,  decrepit,  ill-favored,  and  The 

worse  clad,  rude*^  in  speech,  awkward  in  his  address, 
and  as  indifferently  provided  with  money  as  with  wings.  It 
was  Gregory,  just  beginning  the  work  of  the  Anastasia  the 
prophet  who  was  about  to  call  dead  Faith  from  its  tomb,  and  to 
revive  in  a luxurious  city  the  works  of  charity  and  self-denial. 
His  success  in  the  undertaking  was  truly  wonderful.  By  prayers 
and  tears ; by  untiring  labors  ; by  admirable  discourses  The 
in  which  his  proper  gift  appeared,  entitling  him  to  the 
name  of  the  Theologian  not  by  miracles,^  and  cer- 
tainly  not  by  flattery — for  his  tongue  fell  upon  social  follies  with 
the  emphasis  of  an  iron  flail ; more  than  all,  perhaps,  by  sys- 
tematized efforts,  men  and  women  of  all  classes  helping  in  the 
work  : he  gathered  about  himself  all  that  was  good  in  Constan- 

I condense,  and  soften^  the  description  given  by  Nazianzen.  Orat. 

xlviii. 

*7  Rude  in  the  sense  of  rustic  or  provincial ; for  in  other  respects  he  was 
extremely  eloquent.  His  descriptions  of  himself  are  collected  in  Tillemont, 
ix.  2,  xlvi. 

*^The  Resurrection  or  Revival — the  name  of  the  little  church  where 
Gregory’s  flock  met. 

*9  Gregory  the  Presbyter,  who  wrote  a life  of  S.  Gregoiy  Nazianzen, 
notices  that  to  him  alone,  after  S.  John,  was  the  name  Theologian  given. 

“ Gregory  cultivated  eloquence,  he  declared,  because  he  had  not,  like  the 
Apostles,  the  gift  of  miracles.  The  arguments  with  which  Tillemont  com- 
bats this  disclaimer  of  miraculous  powers  are  not  convincing.  It  is  easy  to 
believe,  however,  that  in  the  excitement  of  such  a Revival  there  were 
‘‘  dreams,  visions,”  etc.,  as  affirmed  by  Sozomen,  vii.  5. 


462 


History  of  the  Church. 

tinople ; and  the  little  Anastasia  bloomed,  and  the  spiritual 
bees  swarmed,®*  till  there  was  no  place  to  receive  them,  around 
the  eloquent  and  saintly  pastor. 

He  stood,  in  fact,  as  the  champion  of  the  Divinity  of  the 
Defence  of  Holy  Spirit:®®  and  a sublime  consciousness  of  the 
the  spirit,  pQ^gj.  presence  of  the  Paraclete  was  the  animat- 
ing principle  of  all  his  efforts. 

In  all  this  he  was  befriended  by  the  new  Emperor  Theo- 
dosius, to  whom  Gratian  had  committed  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Theodosius^  East,  and  who,  like  his  Western  colleague,  favored*the 
A.D.  379.  Homoousion.  In  turn,  he  befriended  the  Emperor, 
and  saved  him  from  the  guilt  of  violent  persecution.  Gregory 
had  been  more  than  once  ill-treated  by  the  dominant  faction  in 
the  city  : once  he  had  been  stoned,  once  cast  into  prison;  once 
he  narrowly  escaped  the  knife  of  an  assassin.  But  he  bore  no 
malice.  It  was  his  glory  to  conquer  by  patience  and  works  of 
kindness.  He  was  therefore  in  no  haste  to  avail  himself  of  the 
Churches  help  of  the  secular  arm.  But  Theodosius  regarded  it 
YoihV^  as  a matter  of  simple  justice  that  the  Catholics  should 
Orthodox,  restored  to  the  churches  from  which  they  had  been 
forty  years  exiled,  and  should  be  put  in  possession  of  the  prop- 
erty of  which  they  had  been  robbed.  This  accordingly  was 
done.  The  Arians  went  out,  and  the  Catholics  came  in.  De- 
mophilus  shook  off  the  dust  from  his  feet  against  the  city®^  and 
pitched  his  tent  in  the  suburbs.  Gregory  reigned  supreme  in 
Constantinople.  It  was  a reign,  however,  in  which  he  could 
still  feel  the  quaking  of  the  buried  giant’s  limbs  ;®^  while  occa- 
sional ‘‘rumblings  from  beneath,  with  jets  of  hot  smoke  and 
flame,”  were  a wholesome  reminder  to  him  of  the  precarious- 
ness of  his  triumph. 

See  his  affectionate  poetical  tribute  to  the  Anastasia.  Insomnium  de 
Anastas.  Templo. 

22  To  this  he  attributes  all  his  success  as  a preacher.  Carm.  de  Vit. 
79-92;  Insomn.  de  An.  Temp.  ^sSozom.  vii.  5. 

24  Gregory  carries  out  the  figure  of  Enceladm  with  humor  and  vigor. 
De  Vit.  Carm.  102. 


Theodosius  a7id  Second  General  Council.  463 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THEODOSIUS  AND  THE  SECOND  GENERAL  COUNCIL. 

Theodosius,  a Spaniard  by  birth,  was  of  an  orthodox  family, 
and  had  been  brought  up  to  reverence  the  Nicene  Faith.  A 
vision,"  it  is  said,  confirmed  him  in  his  convictions.  Faith  of 
On  receiving  his  appointment  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  East,  the  reward  of  a great  victory  over  the  Goths,  in  which 
he  had  avenged  the  defeat  of  Valens,  he  informed  himself  of 
the  belief  of  the  majority  of  his  subjects;  and  finding  that 
Arianism  was  divided  and  distracted,  having  no  solid  hold  upon 
the  mass  of  people,  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  bring  all  back 
to  the  old  way  of  thinking : so  he  restored  the  faithful  to  their 
rights  in  Constantinople,  denied  the  name  ‘‘Catholic**  to  all 
dissenters,  and  issued  a general  edict  in  favor  of  “ the  doctrine 
taught  by  Damasus  of  Rome**  against  Ursicinus,  “and  by 
Peter  of  Alexandria**  against  the  Arian  Lucius. 

His  zeal  is  said  to  have  been  strengthened  by  an  eccentric 
act  of  an  aged  orthodox  Bishop.  Coming  into  the  Emperor* s 
presence  when  the  prince,  his  son,  was  sitting  on  a 
throne  beside  him,  the  old  man  reverently  saluted  the  how 
father  but  treated  the  son  with  neglect.  He  was  forth- 
with driven  from  the  presence-chamber.  As  he  retired,  he  had 
time  for  a vigorous  home-thrust  at  the  offended  monarch : 
“ Reflect,  O Emperor,  on  the  wrath  of  the  Heavenly  Father  at 
those  who  decline  to  honor  His  Son,  who  regard  Him  as  of  an 
inferior  nature  ! * * The  argument  answered  its  purpose.  Theo- 


* Theod.  V.  5,  6 ; Sozom.  vii.  4,  6. 


464 


History  of  the  Church. 

dosius  became  so  decided  in  his  faith,  that  the  eloquent  Eu- 
nomius,  the  most  able  of  the  Arian  leaders,  could  not  even 
obtain  the  boon  of  a hearing  from  him. 

In  order  to  bring  his  subjects  to  a similar  firmness  in  the 
faith,  and  with  a view  to  the  settlement  of  certain  minor  ques- 
Couftcii  proceeded  to  assemble  in  Constantinople 

assembled,  that  great  Synod  of  Eastern  Bishops  which  is  known 
in  history  as  the  Second  Ecumenical  Council.*  Pre- 
lates to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  present,  in- 
cluding those  of  Egypt  and  Macedonia,  who  were  somewhat  late 
in  appearing.  There  were  also  thirty  followers  of  Macedonius, 
who  met  apart,  however,  and  steadfastly  refused  to  be  recon- 
ciled. 

The  first  business  before  the  Synod  related  to  the  See  of 
Constantinople,  which  was  virtually  held  by  Gregory,  but  was 
Its  first  contested  by  an  Egyptian  of  the  name  of  Maximus, 
Business.  iHost  remarkable  pretenders  of  the  age. 

His  story,  vividly  related  by  Nazianzen,  may  serve  as  a sam- 
ple of  the  scandals^  to  which  the  Church  at  that  time  was 
exposed. 

About  a year  after  Gregory’s  arrival  in  the  Eastern  capital, 
there  had  come  to  him  a man  wearing  the  white  robe  of  a 
Maximus  Cyiiic,  with  the  staff  usually  borne  by  philosophers  of 
the  Cyme.  enomious  head  of  hair  naturally 

black,  but  dyed  a brilliant  golden  red.^  It  was  Maximus  the 
Egyptian,  a Christian  philosopher,  a staunch  Confessor,  an  im- 
perturbable man  of  a certain  ‘‘whale-like”  gravity ^ of  face  and 
Gregory  manner.  Gregory,  like  others,  became  a willing  dupe 
deceived.  such  pretensious.  It  was  “ a great  fish”  come  to 
his  net ; and  if  the  aspect  of  the  man  was  somewhat  unchris- 
tian-like, the  Saint  was  so  accustomed  to  look  for  wolves  in 

^Sozom.  vii.  7-1 1;  Socrat.  v.  5-9;  Theod.  v.  8,  9;  S.  Greg.  Theolog. 
Carm.  de  Vit.,  etc. 

3 Gregory  says,  there  was  never  a better  subject  for  comedy.  Carm.  61. 

^ S.  Greg.  Carm.  de  Vil.  50. 

5 atjiuvov  Trfjna  Krjrudeg  repag. 


Theodosius  and  Second  General  Council.  465 

sheep’s  clothing,  that  when  one  came  before  him  in  its  proper 
skin^  it  threw  him  off  his  guard.  The  end  of  it  was  that  Max- 
imus seemed  devoted  to  Nazianzen,  and  Nazianzen  to  him  ; the 
Cynic  feigned  to  be  enraptured  with  the  beauty  of  the  Saint’s 
discourses,  the  Saint  lauded  the  Cynic  publicly  in  Church  as 
a man  of  extraordinary  merit : the  two  were  inseparable — one 
house,  one  table,  one  line  of  meditation  and  study,  one  sacred 
purpose  in  life.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  Constantinople. 

In  the  meantime  a most  ingenious  train  had  been  laid  among 
the  Clergy  of  the  rival  city  of  Alexandria.  By  the  arts  of  Max- 
imus and  (as  Gregory  insinuates)  not  without  the  use  piotof 
of  gold,  Peter,  the  Bishop  of  that  See,  had  been  per- 
suaded  that  New  Rome  was  much  in  need  of  a spiritual  head  ; 
that  Gregory  was  hardly  the  man  for  the  place,  being  rustic  in 
his  manners,  infirm,  impracticable,  eccentric,^  and  liable  to 
exception  moreover  on  canonical  grounds;^  that  there  was  a 
certain  Christian  Sage  on  the  spot  whose  praise  was  in  the 
Churches,  having  been  trumpeted  by  no  less  a person  than  the 
saintly  Gregory  himself ; that,  in  short,  it  would  be  an  excel- 
lent thing,  and  might  prevent  confusion,  if  an  able  prelate  could 
be  quietly  installed  in  so  important  a See  before  the  people 
should  have  time  to  make  a noise  about  it. 

Peter  readily  lent  himself  to  these  or  such-like  views.  The 
canonical  number  of  Bishops  was  secretly  sent  from  The  Cynic 
Alexandria  to  Constantinople ; a congregation,  con- 
sisting  chiefly  of  Egyptian  mariners,  stealthily  assembled  in  the 
principal  Church  by  night ; and  everything  was  in  readiness  to 

^“It  is  true,**  said  Gregory,  in  his  apology  for  Maximus  {Orat.  xxiii.), 
“ that  he  practices  our  philosophy  under  a strange  garb ; still  that  (the  white 
robe,  namely)  may  be  taken  as  a sign  of  purity  of  soul.  He  is  a Cynic  (/.  e., 
a dog)  only  in  boldness  of  utterance,  in  living  from  day  to  day,  in  vigilance 
for  souls,  in  fawning  upon  virtue,  and  in  barking  at  vice.” 

7 Gregory  says  {^Orat,  xxxii.)  that  he  could  not  walk  in  other  men's 
stepSy  that  he  was  regarded  as  a sort  of  insane  DemocrituSy  etc.,  etc. 

® Translations  ‘‘from  one  city  to  another’*  were  forbidden  by  Canon  15 
of  Nicaea  and  by  Apostol.  Can.  14. 


20' 


466  History  of  the  Church. 

set  Maximus,  hair  and  all,^  upon  the  archiepiscopal  throne.  The 
thing  leaked  out,  and  the  city  was  instantaneously  in  the  wildest 
uproar.  High  and  low,  magistrates,  people,  strangers,  even 
heretics  rushed  to  the  rescue : the  officiating  prelates  were 
obliged  to  break  off  the  rite,  and  the  plot  of  Maximus  seemed 
for  the  time  defeated.  It  was  renewed,  however,  in  the  house 
of  a flute-player.  In  spite  of  all  opposition  the  philosopher 
was  ordained  and  carried  through  some  form  of  inthronization : 
a sacrifice  being  made  to  public  opinion  in  this  respect  only, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  inexorable  tonsure,  and 
thus  part  with  his  fine  head  of  hair. 

The  wretch  was  driven  from  Constantinople,  and  found  no 
jjeis  favor  with  the  Emperor,  to  whom  he  had  the  face  to 
rejected,  appeal.  He  was  also  abandoned  after  awhile,  though 
with  some  reluctance,  by  the  Alexandrine  Clergy  and  others  of 
his  supporters. 

He  fared  no  better  when  his  case  came  up  before  the  Synod 
at  Constantinople.  He.  was  unanimously  condemned  by  a de- 
Maxtmus  cree,  that  ‘‘he  neither  had  been  nor  was  a Bishop**; 

and  “all  things  which  had  been  done,  either  about 
enthroned,  were  declared  to  be  “ null  and  void.** 

At  the  same  time  Gregory,  who  had  repeatedly  declined  to  seat 
himself  in  the  archiepiscopal  chair,  though  urgently  pressed  by 
the  people  and  the  Emperor,  was  at  length  forced  to  yield  to 
the  wishes  of  his  colleagues,  and  being  duly  enthroned  presided 
for  awhile  in  the  Council. 

Gregory  acceded  the  more  readily  to  this  transaction,  that 
Second  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  harmonize  parties  in  the  next 
Question,  question  before  them,  the  schism  in  the  Church 

of  Antioch. 

Meletius,  the  sober  and  gentle  pastor  of  that  distracted  flock, 
a man  “whose  manners  and  name  savored  both  of  honey,**  had 
died  shortly  after  the  opening  of  the  Council;  and  the  way 

9 He  wished,  it  appears,  to  dispense  with  the  tonsure : whereupon  S. 
Gregory  rallies  him  not  a little.  Carm.  64. 


Theodosius  and  Second  General  Council.  467 


Sch  'sm  in 
A ntioch. 


seemed  clear  for  a satisfactory  settlement,  by  allowing  Paulinus, 
in  compliance  with  an  agreement  which  Meletius 
himself  had  suggested,*®  to  occupy  at  once  the  vacant 
chair.  But  opposed  to  this  equitable  arrangement  was  a strong 
and  bitter  feeling,  on  the  part  of  the  Eastern  Clergy,  parties  in 
against  that  meddlesome  spirit  of  the  West  which  had 
originally  ordained  and  had  so  long  sustained  Paulinus.  The 
old  men  of' the  Synod  were,  like  Gregory,  in  favor  of  peace; 
but  at  every  proposition  to  that  effect  the  young  men”  flew  out 
*Mike  wasps” — a “whirlwind  of  dust  and  noise” — and  car- 
ried all  before  them  by  their  “jackdaw  clamor.”  In  short, 
it  was  determined  that  Paulinus  should  be  dropped,  Flavian 
and  that  a new  Bishop  should  be  ordained  for  An- 
tioch.  So  Flavian  was  duly  elected,  and  the  schism  continued 
for  some  years  longer. 

What  was  worse,  a feeling  was  engendered  which  upset  the 
former  decision  of  the  Council  and  proved  fatal  to  the 
influence  of  Nazianzen.  Instead  of  standing,  as  he 
proposed,  “a  leader  between  two  bands,  now  facing 
the  one,  and  now  the  other,  and  blending  the  two  into  a perfect 
choir,”  he  was  rather  as  one  crushed  between  two  millstones: 
the  nether  stone  being  the  strong  Eastern  feeling  against 


Movement 

against 

Gregory. 


At  the  opening  of  the  Council,  Meletius  presided.  When  he  returned 
from  exile,  after  the  death  of  Valens,  he  made  the  following  noble  speech  to 
Paulinus : **  As  God  committed  to  me  the  care  of  this  flock,  and  as  you  have 
received  the  charge  of  another,  . ...  let  uSf  O friend,  untie  our  flocks.  If 
the  Episcopal  chair  be  to  us  a matter  of  strife,  let  us  place  the  Holy  Gospels 
upon  it,  and  seat  ourselves  one  on  each  side.  If  I die  first,  you,  O friend, 
will  become  sole  ruler  of  the  flock : but  if  your  death  occur  before  mine,  I 
will,  as  far  as  I am  able,  tend  the  flock  alone.”  Theodoret  (v.  3)  declares 
that  the  amicable  proposal  was  rejected  by  Paulinus ; Sozomen  implies  (vii. 
ii)  that  a compact  had  been  made  and  confirmed  by  oath.  It  is  a strong  tes- 
timony to  the  merits  of  Meletius,  that  even  the  West,  which  persecuted  him 
while  living,  consented  finally  to  his  canonization. 

De  Vit.  Carm.  137.  The  “young  men”  argued  that  the  East  ought 
to  have  the  preeminence,  because  our  Lord  was  born  in  the  East : as  good  an 
argument,  perhaps,  as  some  that  have  been  advanced  on  the  opposite  side. 


468 


History  of  the  Church. 

Western  pride/*  and  the  upper  coming  not  long  after  in  the 
shape  of  the  Egyptian  deputation,  which,  for  reasons  already 
intimated,  and  possibly  from  some  secret  grudge,  unanimously 
demanded  his  deposition.  He  resolved  to  be  ‘‘the  Jonah**  of 
He  rest  ns  Strange  storm.  With  tears  he  implored  the  Coun- 
cil to  unbind  him  from  the  altar  on  which  he  lay ; with 
earnest  prayers  he  begged  the  Lord  to  “ provide  a ram  in  Isaac* s 
stead,**  for  the  holocaust  of  an  Episcopate  so  bes€t  with  fiery 
trials.  The  Egyptians  applauded,  the  others  acquiesced.  Greg- 
Nectarius  ory  was  permitted  to  retire;  and  Nectarius,*"*  a good- 
eiected,  naturcd  layman  of  excellent  birth,  being  duly  elected, 
baptized,  and  carried  through  the  inferior  Orders,  was  conse- 
crated and  seated  upon  the  vacant  throne. 

The  generous  sacrifice  was  not  without  effect  upon  the  re- 
maining acts  of  the  Council.  In  bodies  of  that  kind  party 
spirit  is  apt  to  run  high  at  first ; for  the  members 

The  Council  . . , 

hartno-  being  Comparatively  unknown  to  one  another,  and 
mutually  suspicious,  the  law  of  self-assertion  overrides 
all  others  and  reigns  for  awhile  supreme.  But  an  unselfish  act 
breaks  the  force  of  this  law,  and  makes  men  aware  of  their 
common  kin.  In  this  way  we  may  account  for  the  fact  that 
the  Second  General  Council  was  happier  in  its  issue  than  they 
had  reason  to  expect*^  who  looked  only  at  the  clouds  of  its 
inauspicious  beginning. 

First : It  settled  and  completed  the  Nicene  Creed,  by  add- 
The  Creed  rather  by  compiling  from  the  numerous  ortho- 

settied.  symbols,  such  expressions  as  were  needed  to  make 

it  a full  Rule  of  Faith, condemning  the  Photinian,  Macedonian, 
Apollinarian,  Eunomian,  and  other  heresies. 

**  It  was  under  this  Nectarius  that  private  confession — which  had  taken 
the  place  of  the  old  public  confession — was  abolished,  owing  to  a scandal 
that  occurred  in  connection  with  a female  penitent.  Sozom.  viii.  i6. 

*3  The  famous  saying  of  Nazianzen,  that  he  never  knew  any  good  to  come 
of  Councils^  is  obviously  a fruit  of  his  impatience,  rather  than  of  his  experi- 
ence. Epistol.  xlii.  Procopio. 

M The  additions  may  be  thus  expressed  in  italics  : “ We  believe  in  one 


Theodosius  and  Second  General  Council.  469 

Secondly  ; It  made  four  canons,  to  which  three  were  added 
the  year  after  ; the  first  anathematizing  the  chief  heresies,  the 
fourth  condemning  Maximus,  the  third  giving  the  The 

second  place  of  honor  to  the  See  of  Constantinople  or  Canons, 
New  Rome,  and  the  second  defining  the  limits  and  rights  of 
Dioceses,  and  forbidding  all  Bishops  to  exercise  their  office  out 
of  their  own  jurisdiction.  The  numerous  cases  of  interference 
that  had  occurred  of  late  rendered  this  second  Canon  particu- 
larly necessary. 

Thirdly : It  communicated  the  result  of  its  deliberations  to 
the  Emperor,  in  a Synodical  Epistle,  thanking  God  synodicai 
for  all  that  had  been  done,  and  asking  the  Imperial 
sanction. 

The  Western  Church  was  not  represented  in  the  Council, 
and  was  not  satisfied  with  the  result,  either  in  reference  to 

God  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  of  all  things 
visible  and  invisible : And  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only-begotten  Son  of 
God,  Begotten  of  the  Father  before  all  worlds ; God  of  God,  Light  of  Light, 
very  God  of  very  God,  Begotten,  not  made.  Being  of  one  substance  with  the 
Father;  By  whom  all  things  were  made;  Who,  for  us  men,  and  for  our  sal- 
vation, came  down  from  Heaven^  And  was  incarnate  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
the  Virgin  Mary^  And  was  made  man.  And  was  crucified  also  for  us  under 
Pontius  Pilate.  He  suffered  and  was  buried ; And  the  third  day  He  rose 
again,  according  to  the  Scriptures ; And  ascended  into  the  heavens.  And  sitteth 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  And  He  shall  come  again  with  glory  to 
judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead ; Whose  kingdom  shall  have  no  end.  And 
we  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord,  the  Life-Giver,  Who  proceedeth 
from  the  Father  [and  the  Son],  Who  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  together 
is  worshipped  and  glorified.  Who  spake  by  the  Prophets.  And  we  believe  in 
One  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church.  We  acknowledge  one  Baptism  for 
the  remission  of  sins  ; And  we  look  for  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead.  And 
the  Life  of  the  world  to  come.  Amen.'^  The  sources  of  these  additions  are 
concisely  given  in  Hammond’s  Councils  and  Canons ; also  in  Bright’s  Hist, 
of  the  Church,  p.  1 75.  The  omission  of  Holy”  as  one  of  the  notes  of  the 
Church  in  our  Prayer  Book  version  is  probably  a lapse  of  some  translator : 
the  same  error  occurs  in  an  old  Latin  version  of  the  Concilia,  etc.  Colon. 
I5^7»  tom.  i.  p.  489.  The  words  “and  the  Son”  were  a later  insertion  of  the 
Western  Church. 


470  History  of  the  Church. 

Paulinus,  whose  cause  they  continued  to  maintain ; to  Maximus, 
Council, how^^om.  they  took  up  but  soon  had  to  drop,  or  to  the 
received.  ^onor  of  a second  place  in  the  hierarchy  conferred  on 
Constantinople.  These  things  were  complained  of  by  a West- 
ern Council  holden  the  same  year  at  Aquileia ; and  it  was  pro- 
posed by  Damasus,  Ambrose,  and  other  Italian  Bishops,  that  a 
new  general  Synod  should  convene  at  Rome.  The  East,  it  was 
contended,  ought  not  to  have  acted  without  consulting  the 
West.  While  the  latter  assumed  to  itself  no  prerogative  of 
judgment,  it  was  entitled  to  be  heard,  at  least,  before  a decision 
was  reached. The  Easterns,  in  answer,  politely 
A.D.  382.  they  had  ‘‘  wings  like  a dove  to  flee  to  the 

side  of  their  Western  brethren,”  but  felt  obliged,  nevertheless, 
to  decline  the  summons  : partly  that  they  saw  nothing  to  amend 
in  the  action  already  taken,  and  partly  on  the  ground  of  the 
great  inconvenience  to  themselves  and  their  flocks  of  absence 
Finally  from  their  Sees  at  a time  so  critical.  The  dispute 
affroved.  gradually  died  out  of  itself ; and  the  Council  acquired 
finally  an  ecumenical  character  by  the  acquiescence  of  all  parties 
in  the  soundness  and  wisdom  of  its  theological  decisions. 

Gregory,  the  meanwhile,  had  bidden  a tender  adieu  to  his 
beloved  flock  ; to  his  throne,  the  cause  of  so  many  troubles ; to 
Gregory's  sweet  Anastasia,  the  resplendent  S.  Sophia ; to  the 
Farewell,  d^j-gy^  Monks,  widows,  Orphans,  poor ; to  the  choral 
Nazarites  enlivening  the  night-watches  with  their  psalms  and 
hymns ; to  the  Emperor  and  all  his  court ; to  the  heretics, 
whom  he  exhorted  to  be  converted ; to  the  East  and  West,  the 
upper  and  lower  millstones  of  his  tribulations;  to  the  Holy 
Apostles,  the  Guardian  Angels,  the  blessed  and  adorable  Trin- 
ity.*^ “I  have  toiled  in  this  place,”  said  he  : I have  gath- 
ered a flock  where  the  wolves  had  scattered ; I have  given  the 
water  of  life  where  water  failed  ; I have  sown  the  seeds  of  that 
faith  which  is  built  upon  God  Himself;  I have  revealed  the 

‘S  S.  Ambros.  Ep.  13,  14.  *^Theod.  v.  9. 

*7  S.  Greg.  Theolog.  Oral.  xlii. 


Theodosius  and  Second  General  Council.  47 1 

light  of  the  Trinity  to  those  who  before  were  in  baleful  darkness. 
Some  have  been  converted  by  my  preaching.  Others  are  not 
far  off.  I have  reason  to  hope  well  of  those  who  at  first  were 

unwilling  to  hearken  to  me My  beloved  children,  keep 

the  good  trust  committed  to  you  : remember  the  stones  where- 
with I have  been  stoned.” 

With  such  words  he  departed  from  the  scene  of  his  great 
joys  and  trials,  withdrawing  to  the  life  of  a recluse  in  Nazianzus; 
where  he  wrote  poems  and  letters  and  an  autobiog-  Li/e  of  a 
raphy  in  lively  verse  where  also  he  made  the  dis-  Recluse, 
covery,  so  often  made  before  and  since,  that  the  world  is  not 
confined  to  Constantinople ; that  though  a man  may  seal  his 
eyes,^9  his  ears,  his  mouth,  and  pass  whole  Lents  in  unbroken 
silence,  yet  the  buzz  of  the  great  Babylon  is  about  him  still ; 
and  while  his  heart  is  striving  to  entertain  angels,  Sodom  is  still 
battering  at  its  doors  and  windows. 

Theodosius^  was  much  better  pleased  with  the  action  and 
result  of  the  General  Council.  At  a third  Synod,  holden  two 
years  later  in  Constantinople,  he  undertook,  like  ^ ^ 
Constantine,  to  play  the  part  of  a theologian  and  to  o/ the  Sects, 
reconcile  all  sects  by  an  open  and  free  discussion. 

The  result  was  a Babel  of  angry  tongues.  But  the  oral  debate 
failing  to  produce  agreement,  the  Emperor  next  required  each 
sect  to  appear  before  him  with  a written  statement  of  its  peculiar 
tenets.  They  did  so  ; the  Confessions  of  Faith  were  Heresies 
submitted  to  the  imperial  arbiter ; the  Novatians  and  forbidden. 
Catholics  were  approved  all  the  others  were  rejected  and  were 

He  wrote  poetry  by  way  of  penance  : there  remain  some  thirty  thou- 
sand verses — a mine  of  good  sense,  sparkling  wit,  apt  similitudes,  lively 
descriptions ; of  wisdom  in  its  playful  as  well  as  serious  moods. 

*9  He  passed  a Lent  in  silence ; resolved  never  to  look  upon  a woman, 
etc.,  etc.  His  reasons  for  bridling  the  tongue  are  given  with  much  spirit  in 
Carm.  liv.  So  strong,  however,  was  Gregory’s  social  feeling  that  he  could 
not  forbear  writing  to  his  friends,  and  even  visiting  them — appearing  before 
them  “ like  a picture” — during  his  silent  term. 

Socrat.  V.  10;  Sozom.  vii.  12. 

**  The  Novatians,  like  the  Catholics,  confessed  the  Consubstantial. 


472 


History  of  the  Church. 

even  forbidden  to  hold  religious  meetings.  Catholicism  became 
thus  the  State  religion  of  the  East. 

In  the  West  there  was  temporary  confusion  from  the  influ- 
ence of  Justina,  the  Arian  widow  of  Valentinian  I.,  at  first  in 
Emperors  court  of  Gratian,  and  afterwards  in  that  of  Valen- 
^ftheWett,  tinian  II.  But  Maximus,  who  rebelled  against  Gratian 
A.D.  383.  wrested  from  him  his  life  with  the  sovereignty  of 

Britain,  Spain,  and  Gaul,  was  favorable  to  the  Church  and  the 
Nicene  cause.  Among  the  prelates,  Damasus — assisted  by  the 
learning  of  S.  Jerome  and  of  Paulinus,  the  schismatical  pre- 
tender to  Antioch — upheld  with  great  dignity,  earnestness,  and 
devotion  the  ever  growing  power  of  the  Roman  See ; on  his 
death,  he  was  succeeded  by  Siricius,  the  author  of  the 
A.D.  384.  earliest  genuine  ‘decretal  epistle.”  S.  Ambrose  gov- 
erned in  Milan  : S.  Martin  of  Tours  converted  the  peasantry  in 
Gaul.  These  latter  names,  however,  are  of  special  significance 
in  the  history  of  the  Western  Church,  and  will  enter  more  at 
large  into  the  remaining  chapters  of  this  Book. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MISSIONS. — MONASTICISM. — S.  MARTIN. 

The  life  of  the  fourth  century  was  largely  polemical,  and  the 
Centity  against  Arian  and  pagan  errors  within  the  Empire 

Polemical,  itself  left  little  time  or  strength  for  purely  mission- 
ary efforts. 

Still  there  was  a steady  advance  in  the  conversion  of  the 
The  world  : partly  from  an  inherent  aggressiveness  of  the 

troubled  Truth  causing  it  to  press  in  at  every  opening,  partly 

from  that  wondrous  ordering  of  Providence  which 
made  the  decline  of  the  Roman  State  a Bethesda,  as  it  were 


Missions.  473 

— a pool  divinely  troubled,  that  the  nations  one  by  one  might 
be  brought  to  it  and  healed  of  their  barbarism. 

From  Armenia,  converted  early  in  the  century,  the  Gospel 
was  conveyed  by  a female  captive  to  the  warlike  nation  of  the 
Iberians,*  a people  dwelling  about  midway  between  conversion 
the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian.  It  happened  that  a 
child  in  that  country,  being  taken  ill,  was  carried  from  house  to 
house,  according  to  a custom  still  common  in  barbarous  tribes, 
^o  be  benefited  by  the  experience  of  the  simple  neighborhood. 
The  Christian  woman  saw  him,  and  prayed  in  the  name  of 
Christ  for  his  recovery.  The  prayer  was  granted.  Not  long 
after,  a similar  cure  was  wrought  in  like  manner  upon  the  queen 
of  the  Iberians;  and  the  king  was  almost  persuaded  to  be  a 
Christian.  He  hesitated,  however,  and  was  in  great  perplexity. 
The  cloud  upon  his  mind  was  dispelled  by  an  event  which  de- 
livered him  at  the  same  time  from  bodily  peril : for  on  a certain 
occasion,  as  he  was  hunting  alone  upon  the  mountains,  a storm 
came  on  with  a sudden  darkness ; he  bethought  himself  of  Christ 
and  prayed  for  light ; Christ  gave  him  light,  and  he  Prayer 
and  his  family  believed.  The  people  followed  the 
example  of  their  prince.  An  embassy  was  dispatched  with  the 
glad  tidings  to  Constantine,  who  sent  them  a Bishop  and  com- 
pany of  priests ; so  that  Iberia  soon  took  a place  among  the 
Christian  nations. 

From  Osrhoene  and  Armenia  the  Truth  flowed  into  Persia  ;* 
but  the  religion  of  the  Magi,  a system  strongly  organized,  and 
pure  and  elevated  as  compared  ^ith  paganism  in  gen-  The  Church 
eral,  persecuted  the  Church  with  ruthless  vigor,  and 
more  than  sixteen  thousand  martyrs  sealed  their  faith  with  their 
blood.  Constantine  wrote  to  Sapor  in  their  behalf ; but  the 
power  of  the  Magi,  the  malignity  of  the  Jews,  and  a national 
prejudice  against  the  Gospel  as  the  religion  of  their  enemies 
the  Rcfinans,  kept  the  Persian  Church,  and  with  it  the  Arme- 

* Socrat.  i.  20;  Theod.  i.  23. 

*Sozom.  ii.  8-15;  Theod.  v.  38;  Socrat.  vii.  8,  18,  20.  ^ 


474  History  of  the  Church. 

nian,  in  a state  of  depression.  By  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury it  became  aggressive  again.  A Bishop  named  Abdas  ven- 
tured to  burn  a Fire- temple.  This  naturally  awakened  a new 
persecution;  and  the  faithful  were  involved  once  more  in  a 
storm  of  indescribable  horrors. 

The  interior  of  India/ ^ by  which  is  meant  probably  some 
portion  of  Abyssinia,  was  evangelized  anew  by  Frumentius,  a 
India  or  Christian  captive, ^ who  found  favor  with  the  chiefs  of 
Abyssinia,  country,  led  them  to  desire  the  Gospel,  and  after-^ 
wards,  returning  to  his  home  in  Egypt,  begged  S.  Athanasius  to 
send  a Bishop  among  them.  The  Saint  replied,  with  his  usual 
readiness,  Who  better  than  you  can  remove  the  ignorance  of 
this  people?’*  So  he  laid  his  hands  on  him  and  sent  him  back 
to  the  work. 

The  Goths  on  both  sides  of  the  Danube^  had  learned  some- 
thing of  Christianity  in  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century  : for 

^ , the  flood  of  invasion  which  swept  through  Thrace  into 
Asia  Minor  and  thence  back,  in  the  times  of  Decius 
and  his  successors,  carried  with  it  the  Gospel  in  that 
form  in  which  it  is  often  most  effectual,  so  that  the  captors  were 
led  captive  by  the  truth  which  they  had  persecuted.  Constan- 
tine, by  his  victories  and  treaties,  confirmed  them  in  the  faith ; 
and  a Bishop  of  theirs,  named  Theophilus,  attended  the  Coun- 
cil of  Nicaea.  At  a later  period,  Valens  allowed  the  same  peo- 
ple to  settle  south  of  the  Danube,  as  a bulwark  of  the  Empire 
against  the  northern  hordes,  and  a new  field  for  the  planting 
Bishof  of  Arianism.  For  it  so  happened  that  their  Bishop, 
i/tjitas.  Ulfilas,  casting  around  in  all  quarters  for  help  in  his 
evangelic  labors,  fell  in  with  Eudoxius  and  others  of  the  Court 
party,  and  purchased  their  good-will  at  the  price  of  a politic 
subscription  to  the  Creed  of  Ariminum.  He  also  gave  his 
people  an  alphabet  and  a translation  of  the  Scriptures.  Chris- 
tianity thus  spread  among  the  Goths  and  other  Barbariafis,  in  a 


3 Socrat.  i.  19 ; Theod.  i.  23. 

^Sozom.  ii.  6;  Socrat.  i.  18;  ii.  41 ; iv.  33;  Theod.  iv.  37. 


Missions. 


475 


form  which  fell  short  of  the  Nicene  doctrine, ^ but  could  hardly 
be  said  to  contradict  it.  Many  of  the  converts  were  tried  by 
persecutions:  but  ‘‘having  embraced  Christianity,  with  great 
simplicity  of  mind,  they  despised  the  present  life  for  the  faith 
of  Christ.^' 

In  the  reign  of  the  same  Valens,  Moses,  a pious  and  honest 
monk,  converted  the  Saracens,^  with  Mabia  their  queen.  These 
people  were  engaged  at  the  time  in  a devastating  war  The 
against  the  Romans.  They  offered  peace  on  the  con- 
dition  that  Moses  should  be  made  their  Bishop.  The  good 
monk  accordingly  was  torn  from  his  cell  in  the  desert  and  car- 
ried to  Alexandria,  to  be  consecrated  by  Lucius,  the  Arian  pre- 
late. But  he  refused  to  accept  the  laying  on  of  such  hands. 
“ Not  for  matters  of  faith  do  I object,*^  said  he  : “ it  is  for  your 
infamous  cruelty  to  the  brethren.  A Christian  is  no  striker,  no 
brawler,  no  fighter ; for  it  becometh  not  a servant  of  the  Lord 
to  fight.  But  your  deeds  cry  out  against  you  : your  hands  are 
stained  with  blood.**  His  scruples  were  respected,  and  he  re- 
ceived ordination  at  the  hands  of  some  of  the  exiled  orthodox 
Bishops. 

All  these  are  instances  rather  of  spontaneous  growth  than  of 
missionary  effort  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word.  It  „ . 
was  the  seed  sowing  itself : there  was  on  the  part  of  sowing 
the  Church,  however,  a readiness  to  take  advantage  of 
such  openings  as  Providence  presented,  and  to  send  laborers  to 
every  spot  in  which  the  harvest  seemed  to  have  begun. 

In  the  West,  the  Empire  was  engaged  in  a desperate  struggle 
for  the  borders  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  j and  the  struggle  in 
spread  of  the  Gospel  fluctuated  with  the  shifting  for- 
tunes  of  aggression  from  the  one  side  or  the  other  along  that 
line. 

Paganism,  in  fact,  remained  to  be  conquered  within  the 
EmpirS.  Christianity  was  strong  only  in  the  cities : the  rude 


5 See  the  Creed  in  Socrat.  ii.  41. 
^ Socrat.  iv.  36 ; Theod.  iv.  23. 


476 


History  of  the  Church. 

country  folk,  half  slaves,  half  savages,  clung  with  fond  tenacity 
strength  of  to  their  old  superstitions.  And  doubtless,  at  a time 
Paganism,  ramparts  of  civilization  were  all  giving  way ; 

when,  partly  from  the  internal  weakness  of  the  Roman  State, 
and  partly  from  the  steady  pressure  of  invasion  on  every  side, 
there  seemed  imminent  peril  of  a relapse  into  barbarism  ; they 
would  have  clung  to  their  idolatry  much  longer  than  they  did, 
had  their  conversion  been  left  to  the  ordinary  ministry,  or  to 
the  methods  which  had  grown  out  of  the  wants  of  a more  pol- 
ished class. 

But  precisely  at  this  hour  of  need  there  was  a mysterious 
revolution  going  on  in  society,  which,  according  to  the  point 
Mona-  of  view  taken,  may  be  regarded  as  the  height  of  wis- 
chtsm.  height  of  insanity ; but  which,  in  either 

case,  was  destined  to  exert  an  influence,  equally  incalculable  and 
irresistible,  upon  the  growth  of  the  Church  and  the  progress  of 
the  human  race.  By  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  Monachism^ 
had  already  become  a great  power  on  the  earth.  It  had  all  the 
freshness,  confidence,  and  vitality  of  a special  mission.  It  was 
the  ‘‘rough  garment,’*  as  it  were,  of  the  Gospel 
economical  preached  to  the  poor : it  was  Christianity  adapted  to 
the  coarseness  of  rustic  apprehension.  In  itself,  in- 
deed, and  in  the  fantastic  exhibitions  which  accompanied  its 
rise  in  the  East,  it  seemed  merely  a new  form  of  that  sensuous 
enthusiasm,  that  many-headed  dragon  of  the  primitive  Church, 
which  developed  in  the  second  century  into  the  Phrygian 
phrenzy  : but  in  the  course  it  ran  for  a thousand  years  or  more, 
in  the  economical  uses  it  was  providentially  made  to  subserve, 
it  appears  in  history  rather  as  Behemoth  yoked  to  the  Gospel 
car ; as  Leviathan  given  to  be  “ meat  for  the  people  in  the  wil- 

7 Socrat.  iv.  23-26;  Sozom.  vi.  28-34;  S.  Pachom.  Abb.  Regul.y  etc; 
S.  P.  N.  Macarii  ^gypt.  Homil. ; J.  Cassian.  De  Institut.  CcBnob.^  Nilus 
Mo'fiach.  Institut. y etc.  For  these  and  others  see  Bibliothec.  Vet.  Patruniy 
tomm.  iv.  v. ; S.  Chrysostom,  adv.  Oppugnat.  Vit.  Monast. ; Epistles  of  S. 
Jerome,  S.  Basil,  and  others;  Montalembert,  Les  Moines  d Occident ; Giese- 
ler.  U 95-97- 


Monasticism, 


477 


derness^’;  as  one  of  those  Divine  upturnings  and  unsettlings 
in  the  social  state  by  which  laborers  are  thrown  out^  into  the 
whitening  harvest ; one  of  those  disturhings^  of  the  house  of  the 
woman  in  the  Parable,  which  are  needed  for  the  recovery  of  the 
lost  ‘‘piece  of  silver'’;  as,  in  short,  a gigantic  extravagance 
tamed  and  utilized,  and  mysteriously  directed  to  a work  which 
Religion,  in  a more  sober  mood,  might  never  have  undertaken. 

Enthusiasm  doubtless  was  the  inner  spring  of  the  movement ; 
but  enthusiasm  alone  could  hardly  have  sustained  it,  in  a healthy 
state  of  society.  A high  civilization  that  had  run  to  state  of 
seed,  a tree  which  had  lost  the  power  to  hold  its  fruit  Society, 
on  the  bough,  a social  condition  in  which  “all  things  were 
turned  upside  down,"  which  good  men"°  compared  to  a house 
on  fire  or  a ship  in  the  hands  of  a drunken  crew,  and  amid  all 
this  an  exquisite  sensibility  to  sin  and  misery,  caused  whole  com- 
munities to  flow  out  into  the  desert  wilds ; so  that,  not  in  Egypt 
alone,  but  in  Palestine,  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  Armenia,  and  Asia 
Minor,  the  skin-clad  tribes  of  “philosophers"  were  soon  reck- 
oned by  tens  of  thousands. 

The  life  of  S.  Antony"  was  a type  of  the  general  course  of 
Monasticism.  The  feverish  desire  of  “angelic"  life,  the  sun- 
dering of  all  social  ties,  the  battle  in  solitude  with 
lusts  and  demons,  the  creation  of  a new  and  fantastic 
intellectual  world — a world  so  remote  from  ordinary  experience 
that  its  very  language  seems  mythic  and  hieroglyphic" — finally, 

^ Luke,  X.  2 : oTrwf  eKpaXkrj  seems  to  imply  a vigorous  ejectment  of  the 
laborers — who,  perhaps,  are  comfortably  housed  and  taking  their  ease. 

9 Luke,  XV.  8;  instead  of  everrit  some  of  the  fathers  read  evertit ; i.  e.y 
the  woman  disturbs  the  house,  turns  it  upside  down,  in  search  of  the  lost 
piece  of  silver.  See  Catena  Aurea. 

TO  u I wish  there  were  no  need  of  monasteries ; but  when  everything  in 

society  is  turned  upside  down we  ought  not  to  find  fault  with  those 

who  escape  such  a miry  and  troublous  sea,  and  take  refuge  in  a peaceful 
haven.”  S.  Chrysostom,  adv.  Oppugnat.  Vit.  Monast.  i.  7. 

“ See  Book  III.  chap.  vi.  of  this  History. 

*2  At  a certain  stage  of  intellectual  excitement,  the  mind,  without  losing 
its  reverence  for  truth,  becomes  demoralized  with  regard  to  mere  matters  of 


478  History  of  the  Church. 

the  multitude  pouring  forth  into  the  wilderness  ^Uo  see**  the 
phenomenon,  and  the  anchoret  forced  into  the  world  again  as 
a prophet,  preacher,  and  pioneer  in  a new  line  of  Christian  con- 
quest : all  this  was  more  or  less  exhibited  in  the  career  of  An- 
tony, though  its  full  significance  was  not  seen  for  some  ages 
after. 

The  example,  in  all  its  extravagance,  was  followed  by  innu- 
merable imitators.  Pachomius  for  fifteen  years  never  slept  but 
other  in  an  upright  posture ; Macarius  the  younger  lived  six 

Monks,  months  naked,  in  a marsh,  to  be  stung  by  gnats; 
Theonas,  a mighty  scholar,  observed  for  thirty  years  an  unbroken 
silence.  Yet  amid  these  and  thousands  of  such  like  whims,  the 
spirit  of  order  was  reasserting  itself ; the  social  instinct  was  re- 
turning under  another  form ; the  wild  den  of  the  anchoret  was 
becoming  the  nucleus  of  the  cenobiuniy  laura^  mandra^  or  monas- 
tery,  where  men  lived  together  as  brothers,**  under  an  Abbot 
or  Archimandrite. 

Pachomius  was  the  first  of  the  solitaries  who  was  called  to 
be  a ruler  and  legislator.  On  Tabenna,  an  island  of  the  Nile, 
The  he  gave  laws  to  a community  of  monks,  which,  with  a 
Cenobtum,  gj^ilar  establishment  for  nuns,  under  the  direction  of 
his  sister,  numbered,  by  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  some 
fifty  thousand.  Ammon  was  at  the  head  of  a similar  society  on 
the  Nitrian  mountain;  another  was  planted  by  Macarius  the 
elder  in  the  wilderness  of  Sketis ; Serapion,  with  about  one 
thousand  brothers,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Arsinoe,  raised  corn 
for  the  supply  of  the  other  monks,  and  for  gratuitous  distribu- 
tion among  the  poor ; Oxyrynchus  swarmed  with  a population 
of  ten  thousand  of  the  one  sex,  and  twenty  thousand  of  the 
other,  devoted  to  the  virgin,  philosophic  and  angelic  life.  There 
were  like  communities  springing  up  spontaneously,  each  with 

fact ; the  imagination  and  the  reason  dissolve  partnership,  as  it  were,  and 
move  in  separate  spheres,  the  latter  retaining  its  full  strength  in  certain  things, 
but  exerting  no  controlling  power  upon  the  former.  Such  seems  to  me  to 
have  been  the  mental  state  of  the  early  monks : a state  in  v/hich  myths  are 
manufactured  without  any  intention  to  deceive. 


Monasticism. 


479 


Married 

Monks, 


its  own  code  of  laws  and  peculiar  ways,  all  over  the  Eastern 
world. 

But  as  numbers  increased,  ‘‘the  world found  its  way  into 
these  lesser  worlds.  Hence  a process  of  separation  going  on 
continuously.  Smaller  societies  drew  off  from  the  ^ ^ 

' ^ A nchoretSy 

tainted  air  of  the  larger  ones  : and  from  these  again  ivatckers^ 

° 111  others, 

the  more  fervid  spirits  seceded.  The  anchoret  looked 
with  pity  upon  the  luxury  of  the  cenobite  ; the  watchers^^  warred 
against  sleep ; th^  grazers  roved  and  ate  grass  like  cattle ; finally, 
the  pillar^saints  gave  a lead  beyond  which  emulation  could  go 
no  further. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  combined  monastic  with  social 
duties.*^  Though,  as  a general  rule,  “a  monk  out  of  the  des- 
ert** was  considered  a “fish  out  of  water,**  yet  city 
monks,  and  perhaps  married  monks,  were  not  un- 
known. There  were  also  hordes  of  wild  beggars  whose  fanati- 
cism was  hardly  tinctured  with  any  element  of  Christian  doc- 
trine. 

The  character  of  the  better  class  of  ascetics  was  often  a sin- 
gular mixture  of  visionary  enthusiasm  and  coarse  and  hard  com- 
mon-sense. Ammon,  a newly-wedded  bridegroom, 
won  his  young  bride  to  the  “angelic**  life  by  “des- 
canting upon  the  burdens  and  discomforts  of  rearing  a family** ; 
yet  the  same  Ammon  would  not  swim  a stream  for  fear  of  the 
“immodesty**  of  seeing  his  own  body  naked.  Pambos  took 
nineteen  years  to  learn  the  meaning  of  the  words,  ‘ ‘ I will  take 
heed  to  my  ways,  that  I offend  not  with  my  tongue  * * ; but  it 
was  the  same  Pambos  who  wept  on  seeing  an  actress,  “be- 
cause,** said  he,  “I  exert  myself  less  to  please  my  God  than 
she  to  please  filthy  men.**  Isidore,  less  diffident,  declared  that 
for  forty  years  he  had  not  been  conscious  of  sin,  even 
in  thought.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  monks 
learned  from  their  own  experience  that  “bodily  exercise**  is 


Monastic 

IVisdom, 


Maxims, 


*3  These  belong  rather  to  the  fifth  century.  See  Evagrius,  i.  21. 

*4Gieseler,  J95,  nn.  41-48. 


480 


History  of  the  Church. 

not  the  only  thing  needful  towards  the  perfection  of  Christian 
character.  The  ‘‘  dry  diet/^  said  one,  ‘‘  must  be  combined  with 
love.^^  The  same  judicious  brother  recommended  ‘‘minister- 
ing to  the  sick^*  as  a better  specific  than  fasting,  even,  against 
nightly  visitations  of  ghosts  and  fiends.  In  short,  amid  all 
the  extravagances  of  monastic  life  there  was  a “ philosophy  ’ * 
that  did  honor  to  human  nature : and  oftentimes  those  who  in 
their  own  practice  had  been  most  extreme,'^  were  the  most  con- 
siderate and  charitable  in  the  rules  they  laid  down  for  others. 

They  found,  in  fact,  that  religious  enthusiasm,  like  all  other 
passions,  needs  to  be  restrained  and  guided.'®  Hence  manual 
Monastic  labor,  sometimes  in  the  cells  and  sometimes  in  out- 
door  employments,  distinguished  the  better  class  of 
Egyptian  monasteries.  “A  working  monk  has  but  a single 
devil  to  contend  against,  an  idle  one  is  torn  by  thousands.’’  A 
diet,  not  too  abundant  nor  yet  too  spare,  was  a wise  addition  to 
this  wholesome  rule.  There  were  regular  hours,  from  twice  to 
six  times  a day,  for  prayers  : private  vows  were  to  “‘dart  up” 
constantly,  each  breath  was  to  be  an  “ ejaculation.”  The  times 
and  manner  of  meals,  of  sleep,  of  recreation,  were  prescribed 
with  the  minuteness  of  military  law,  and  enforced  with  the 
rigor  of  military  drill.  Thus  the  tendency  to  extrav- 
ufonEn-  agancc  was  kept  in  check  and  if,  in  spite  of  all, 

thusiasm.  ^ ^ r ^ 1 ^ r 

there  were  cases  not  a few  of  melancholy,  frenzy, 
demoniacal  possession,  or  even  suicide,  it  is  true,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  the  subjects  of  this  discipline  were  not  in  general 

*5  S.  Jerome,  especially,  profited  by  his  experience  in  that  way,  and  draws 
vivid  pictures  of  the  perils  of  asceticism.  See  Gieseler,  §95,  nn.  ii,  28. 

The  Homilies  of  S.  Macarius  are  admirable  persuasions  to  a sober,  ra- 
tional, well-ordered  piety : so  much  so  that  they  have  been  accused  of  incul- 
cating religious  apathy.  But  the  most  fervid  monks  were  often  moderate  in 
their  style  of  preaching. 

*7  Here,  I think,  is  the  essential  difference  between  Christian  and  heathen 
Monachism.  The  tendency  to  solitary  life  being  in  itself  a sort  of  fever — 
not  a disease,  but  a violent  effort  of  nature  to  throw  off  disease — heathenism 
lets  the  fever  run ; Christianity  controls  it  and  turns  it  to  some  good  account. 


Monasticism. 


481 


the  most  healthy  minds,  but  oftener  the  mere  wrecks  and  waifs*® 
of  an  effete  civilization. 

The  state  of  society  and  general  turn  of  mind,  which  led  so 
many  to  adopt  the  monastic  life,  made  the  system  useful  in  a 
way  that  the  first  ascetics  probably  had  never  intended.  special 
The  oddities  of  the  monks  attracted  attention.  Their 
simplicity  and  benevolence  and  untutored  tongues*^  won  for 
them  the  favor  of  the  common  people.  They  thus  became 
preachers  against  their  will.  At  a time,  moreover, 
when  the  ordinary  style  of  the  pulpit  was  too  theolog- 
ical for  heathen  ears,  the  voice  that  was  content  to  cry  in  the 
wilderness,  that  harped  with  strident  force  upon  the  elementary 
topics  of  temperancer,  ighteousness,  and  judgment  to  come,  had 
a peculiar  charm  for  the  mass  of  men  ; and  multitudes,  not  from 
the  country  merely,  but  from  the  cities  and  towns,  eagerly 
poured  forth  to  hear  it. 

In  the^  times  of  Valens,  Monachism  had  grown  so  popular 
that  it  was  objected  to  as  a drain  upon  the  resources  of  the 
State  : which  served  as  a pretext  for  persecution — the 

Valens 

real  reason  being  the  zeal  of  the  monks  for  the  Nicene  pers  cuus 

_ . , _ _ - , 1 1 . Monks. 

Faith.  Many  of  them,  therefore,  were  pressed  into 
the  army  : those  who  refused  were  beaten  to  death  with  clubs. 
The  usual  effect  of  persecution  followed.  Enthusiasm  soured 
into  fanaticism.  Hordes  of  heated  zealots  roved  through  the 
East,  waging  a predatory  war  upon  paganism,  and  differing 
little  in  temper — however  they  might  differ  in  creed  — from 
those  pests  of  the  North  African  Church,  the  Circumcellions.^ 


Hence  those  Fathers  who  have  left  the  darkest  pictures  of  monastic 
life  were,  nevertheless,  in  their  day,  the  chief  promoters  of  it.  And  why  ? 
Because,  I think,  they  judged  a monastery  much  as  we  judge  a hospital.  A 
retreat  for  the  sick  must  have  sick  people  in  it ; and  among  them  there  will 
be  some  incurables. 

*9  S.  Antony,  for  example,  used  to  speak  in  the  vernacular  of  the  country : 
the  Church,  in  general,  knew  only  Greek. 

20  It  was  probably  a lively  remembrance  of  the  excesses  of  these  fanatics 
which  caused  Monachism  to  be  so  dreaded  and  hated  in  the  African  Church. 
See  Gieseler,  \ 96,  n.  14. 


21 


482  History  of  the  Church. 

To  S.  Basil  belongs  the  credit  of  utilizing  the  system  to  a 
greater  extent  than  any  one  had  done  before  him.  He  aimed 
s.  Basics  at  a union  of  the  contemplative  life  and  the  active, 
and  by  bringing  the  monks  into  closer  relations  with 
the  city  Clergy,  he  made  useful  missionaries  of  them  among  the 
heathen,  and  valuable  auxiliaries  in  the  war  still  waged  upon  the 
Arian  heresy. 

As  the  movement  advanced  towards  the  West,  it  assumed 
more  and  more  of  this  utilitarian  character.  There  was  a whole- 
Monachism  some  prejudice  against  its  more  fantastic  features,  with 
tn  the  ivest.  great  faith  in  its  dreams  and  miracles.  It  secured 
a mighty  advocate,  however,  in  S.  Athanasius,  whose  exile  was 
shared  by  some  Egyptian  monks ; and,  at  a later  date,  in  S. 
Jerome.  The  latter  developed  it  in  its  harshest  form,""  and  was 
soon  obliged  to  retire  with  his  female  followers  into  Palestine. 
S.  Ambrose  of  Milan  was  equally  zealous  and  more  successful. 
The  praise  of  virginity  was  ever  on  his  tongue  : the^  establish- 
ment of  retreats  for  ascetics  of  either  sex  was  his  constant 
effort.  But  to  win  the  cordial  approbation  of  the  Western 
mind  it  was  necessary  that  Monachism  should  prove  its  mission : 
without  ceasing  to  aspire  after  works  of  wonder,  it  had  to  show 
a capability  for  dealing  with  practical  questions,  for  meeting,  in 
fact,  some  one  or  other  of  the  pressing  wants  of  the  times. 

Its  position  was  secured  in  this  respect,  and  a field  was 
jfs  opened  in  which  for  some  centuries  it  labored  almost 

Founder.  chiefly  by  the  efforts  of  S.  Martin  of  Tours,  the 

Apostle  of  the  Gallic  peasantry. 

This  remarkable  man,""*  the  son  of  a heathen  soldier,  born  in 
Pannonia,  and  brought  up  in  Italian  Pavia,  became  a catechu- 
men at  ten  years  of  age,  and  at  twelve  had  set  his  heart  on  the 

The  culture  of  filth  is  one  of  the  least  pleasant  features  of  ascetic  life : 
yet  a noble,  refined,  and  educated  woman,  under  the  instruction  of  such  a man 
as  Jerome,  could  be  brought  to  regard  uncleanliness  and  squalor  as  a special 
merit. 

22  His  life  is  written  in  prose  by  Sulpicius  Severus,  the  author  of  two 
books  of  Sacred  History  ; and  in  verse  by  Paulinus  of  Nola. 


S.  Martin.  483 

life  of  an  anchoret : but  being  pressed  into  the  army  he  served 
from  his  fifteenth  to  his  twentieth  year,  having  re-  ^ Martin 
ceived,  the  meanwhile,  the  gift  of  baptism.  It  was  ^ ^orn^ 
during  this  part  of  his  career  that  he  gave  a famous 
proof  of  his  goodness  of  heart  by  sharing  his  cloak  with  a beg- 
gar at  the  gate  of  Amiens.  The  next  night  he  saw  the  Lord 
clothed  in  the  half  garment  thus  bestowed.  Having  left  the 
army  he  indulged  for  many  years  his  passion  for  the  ascetic  life. 
S.  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  his  nearest  friend,  endeavored  to  entice 
him  into  Holy  Orders,  but  he  would  accept  no  station  in  the 
Ministry  higher  than  that  of  an  Exorcist.  In  the  persecution 
under  Constantins  he  won  the  title  of  Confessor.  Auxentius, 
the  Arian  Bishop,  drove  him  forth  from  Milan.  He  betook 
himself  to  an  island  in  the  Tuscan  Sea,  where  he  „ ^ 

He  founds 

founded  a monastery ; afterwards,  on  the  return  of  Monas^ 
Hilary  from  exile,  he  established  another  religious 
house  in  the  neighborhood  of  Poitiers : the  first  examples  of 
the  kind  in  the  Western  Church,  though  the  monastic  rule  of 
life  had  been  introduced  by  S.  Athanasius,  and  adopted  by 
Eusebius  of  Vercellae  and  other  prominent  ecclesiastics. 

The  reputation  he  had  acquired  for  miracles  and  good  works 
secured  his  election  to  the  episcopate  of  Tours,  in  the  eighth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Valentinian  and  Valens.  The 

...  1 1 r.  • Bishop 

people  were  unanimous  in  their  choice,  and  the  Saint,  of  Tours, 
being  decoyed  out  of  his  cell  by  a summons  to  visit  a ’ ’ 
sick  woman,  was  seized  and  consecrated  : some  of  the  prelates, 
however,  were  shocked  at  his  ‘‘vile  mien,  sordid  garments,  and 
unkempt  hair,’*  and  he  encountered  at  their  hands  a persistent 
opposition.  Bad  Bishops, *3  it  is  said,  were  the  only  bitter 
enemies  he  ever  had. 

On  becoming  a Bishop  he  did  not  cease  to  be  a monk : he 
lived  at  first  in  a cell  attached  to  his  Church,  afterwards  in  a 
monastery  not  far  from  the  city,  where  some  eighty  brethren, 

*3  The  opposition  between  the  normal  and  abnormal — between  the  reg- 
ular and  irregular — between  the  old  and  the  new — crops  out  continually  in 
monastic  history. 


484  History  of  the  Church. 

many  of  whom  were  of  gentle  blood,  submitted  to  a rule  which 
Ascetic  (unlike  that  of  the  Eastern  ascetics)  excluded  manual 
labor  and  left  more  time  for  prayer  and  study.  Chosen 
companies  of  these  went  with  him  wherever  he  went : the  Saint 
walking  by  himself,  absorbed  in  prayer,  the  rest  following  in 
groups  at  a respectful  distance.  Cities  he  avoided  as  much 
as  possible.  He  chose  for  himself  a field  where  no  Gospel 
laborer  had  been  before  him.  For,  as  already  intimated,  the 
mission  from  Asia  in  the  second  century,  and  the  large  appoint- 
ment of  Bishops  under  Roman  auspices  in  the  third,  had  evan- 
gelized only  the  towns  and  the  upper  classes  in  Gaul : the  mass 
of  the  country  people  were  ignorant,  rude,  and  stubborn  idol- 
aters. 

Among  this  class,  then,  the  zealous  Bishop  labored  ; going 
about  from  place  to  place  with  his  devoted  band,  healing  the 
New  Field  sick,  it  was  Said,  casting  out  devils,  cleansing  lepers 
0/ Labor.  ^ raising  the  dead,  breaking  up  the  shrines  of 
demon-worship,  preaching  how  ‘‘men  should  forsake  the  pres- 
ent life  and  give  themselves  wholly  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ’’  : 
in  short,  impressing  the  rude  minds  of  the  peasantry^'^  with  such 
a sense  of  Divine  grace  and  power  that  he  seemed  in  their  eyes 
a living  miracle,  and  consequently  everything  he  did  appeared 
miraculous.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  one  of  the  first  exam- 

24  Miracles  are  so  interwoven  into  his  life,  that  some  mention  of  them 
seems  necessary  towards  understanding  the  character  of  his  influence.  As  to 
the  reality  of  these  wonders  it  may  be  observed,  (i)  that  (on  the  showing  of 
Sulpicius,  Dialog,  i.  18)  they  were  credited  only  by  the  people  and  by  men  in 
foreign  parts — the  Clergy  in  Gaul  were  incredulous;  (2)  the  monastic  mode 
of  life  and  the  monastic  mind  was  (on  the  showing  of  the  same  Sulpicius,  De 
Vit.  B.  M.  XXV.)  visionary  and  credulous  to  an  extraordinary  degree ; (3)  S. 
Martin  was  a miracle  of  benignity  and  goodness,  and  the  impression  he  made 
upon  his  followers  was  perfectly  overwhelming  : see  the  rich  gush  of  feeling 
with  which  Sulpicius  describes  it.  De  Vit.  B.  M xxvi.  Allowing  for  these 
facts,  we  may  perhaps  explain  the  miracles  of  S.  Martin,  without  impeaching 
the  veracity  of  his  biographer : at  the  same  time,  considering  his  peculiar 
mission,  he  may  have  had  tokens  of  the  Divine  blessing  and  favor  greater  than 
our  philosophy  is  ready  to  admit. 


6".  Martin. 


485 

pies  of  his  zeal  against  superstition  was  occasioned  by  a Chris- 
tian, not  a heathen,  error.  An  altar  near  his  monastery  was 
much  frequented,  by  reason  of  the  relics  of  some  ij^rar/are 
martyr  supposed  to  be  buried  there.  But  as  no  one  against  Su- 

J ^ ^ ^ perstition. 

could  tell  the  name  of  the  martyr  the  Saint  became 
sceptical  and  instituted  a searching  investigation.  His  doubts 
were  settled  by  a vision.  A ‘^grim  and  sordid  shade'*  arose 
from  the  consecrated  spot,  and  announced  itself  the  ghost  of  a 
robber  executed  for  his  crimes.  The  altar,  of  course,  was 
removed,  and  ‘‘ the  people  were  freed  from  the  error  of  that 
superstition.'* 

Whether  in  consequence  of  the  miracles  attributed  to  him, 
or  as  the  natural  effect  of  invincible  courage  united  to  a childlike 
simplicity  and  tenderness  of  heart,  S.  Martin  experienced  less 
opposition  at  the  hands  of  the  pagans  than  might  have 
been  expected.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  de-  over  the 

Pagans, 

molishing  a temple,  the  crowd  stood  and  looked  on  in 
impotent  amazement : on  another,  a bold  assassin  was  unnerved 
by  the  Saint's  calmly  laying  bare  his  neck  to  the  knife.  On  an- 
other occasion  still,  he  so  tamed  a savage  crowd  by  the  sanctity 
of  his  preaching  that  they  rose  with  one  accord  and  destroyed 
their  temples. 

Wherever  he  rooted  up  idolatry  he  took  care  to  plant  the 
Gospel  in  its  stead : the  shrines  and  temples  were  replaced  by 
churches  and  monasteries.  That  these  latter  did  good  churches 
service  in  an  age  which  required  a certain  roughness  as  ^^tsuHes 
well  as  readiness  in  those  who  undertook  to  reclaim  it,  P^a^nted, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  honor  in  which  they  were  held.  The 
monks,  it  is  true,  introduced  not  a few  superstitions  in  place  of 
the  supplanted  fables.  It  may  even  be  said  that  they  substituted 
a Christian, for  a heathen,  paganism.  Yet  to  any  one  who 
considers  the  vileness  and  atrocity  of  the  latter  error,  as  con- 

*5  Sulpicius  gives  us  a glimpse  of  the  wild  dreams  of  monastic  life  : 
how  one  brother  thought  himself  Christ,  and  even  a Bishop  was  so  deluded 
as  to  fall  down  and  worship  him;  how  another  personated  John,  etc. — cases 
occurring  so  frequently  that  Sulpicius  conjectured  the  day  of  Antichrist  to  be 


486 


History  of  the  Church. 


trasted  with  the  pure,  though  visionary,  ideal  presented  by  the 
former,  the  gain  to  humanity  and  religion  must  still  appear  irn- 
mense.  Other  men,  possibly,  might  have  done  the 
Service  of  work  better : . but,  then,  three  centuries  had  passed 

the  Monks.  , , . , , . 

and  no  other  men  had  arisen  to  undertake  it.  The 
learned  Clergy  were  urban  in  their  tastes.  While  we  may  sym- 
pathize, therefore,  to  a certain  extent,  with  those  prelates  who 
were  disgusted  at  S.  Martin's  ‘‘sordid  raiment  and  unkempt 
hair,"  we  may  at  the  same  time  thank  God  that  the  conversion 
of  the  poor  pagans  was  not  left  to  such  prelates.  Had  it  been 
so  left,  the  struggle  with  barbarism  might  have  resulted  in 
darker  ages  than  those  to  which  the  world  was  destined. 

But  to  return  to  the  good  Bishop  ; much  as  he  avoided  cities 
and  the  Court,  his  light  was  of  that  kind  which  could  not  be 
s Martin  Apostle  and  patron  of  the  poor,  he 

and  the  was  obliged  for  their  sakes  to  stand  before  kings.  In 
the  case  of  Valentinian,  who,  though  an  orthodox 
ruler,  was  prejudiced  against  the  Saint  by  Justina,  his  Arian 
wife,  he  had  almost  to  force  his  way  into  the  palace  : but,  when 
he  at  last  gained  admission,  the  honest  prince  recognized  at 
once  his  superior  merit,  and  granted  him  all  and  even  more  than 
he  desired.  With  Maximus,  the  usurper  of  the  Gauls 
and  the  murderer  of  Gratian,  he  found  it  more  diffi- 
cult to  deal  in  a friendly  way,  and  for  some  time  declined  all 
communion  with  him.  The  tyrant  succeeded,  however,  in  jus- 
tifying himself,  and  the  Saint  once  or  twice  consented  to  dine 
in  the  palace.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  when  Maximus 
handed  him  the  cup,  intending  to  do  himself  the  grace  of 
drinking  after  him,  the  Bishop  tasted  the  wine  and  then  passed 
it  on  to  a certain  Presbyter : the  lowliest  minister  of  God  was 
superior  in  his  eyes  to  the  loftiest  monarch. 

But  it  was  particularly  irksome  to  S.  Martin  to  associate  with 
the  hard  and  worldly  prelates  of  the  usurper's  Court.  Cruelty 


A.D.  383. 


at  hand.  De  Vit.  B.  M.  xxv.  To  balance  this,  there  were  many  noble  and 
beautiful  dreams,  which  attained  their  apotheosis  in  Dante’s  Divine  Comedy. 


5’.  Martin.  487 

in  all  shapes  he  deeply  abhorred  : the  very  birds  and  beasts  were 
under  his  protection,  and  he  is  even  said  to  have  per- 
formed  miracles  in  their  behalf.  In  the  same  way,  he  Goodness 
set  a high  value  on  the  spirit  of  forgiveness,  and  re- 
garded the  power  of  absolution  as  the  choicest  gem  in  the 
crown  of  the  Ministry.  When  the  Devil  once  tried  to  argue 
him  into  the  belief  that  there  were  some  sins  too  grievous  to 
be  remitted,  he  answered  the  arch-tempter  : ‘^If  thouy  O wretch, 
wouldst  cease  from  hunting  men,  and  repent  thee  of  thy  deeds, 
I would  promise  the  Lord^s  pardon  even  to  thee  ! There  was 
little  of  this  temper  among  the  Court  Clergy.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  through  the  influence  of  these,  headed  by  Idacius  and 
Ithacius,  that  sentence  of  death  was  pronounced,  and  a death- 
warrant  signed,  against  the  deluded  followers  of  the  heretic 
Priscillian.^  S.  Martin  pleaded  hard  for  a reversal  He  pleads 
of  the  sentence.  When  he  failed  to  obtain  it,  he  even 
refused  to  commune  any  longer  with  his  cruel  col- 
leagues ; and  though  he  subsequently  yielded  the  point,  in 
order  to  prevent  further  bloodshed,  which  Maximus  threatened 
in  case  he  should  persist,  yet  his  conscience  was  uneasy  under 
such  a burden  ; an  Angel  rebuked  him ; his  wonder-working 
power  seemed  to  be  going  from  him ; and,  to  recover  his  wonted 
peace  of  mind,  he  thenceforth  held  aloof,  not  only  He  holds 
from  the  offending  prelates,  but  from  all  Councils  and  aloof  from 
assemblies  in  which  they  were  likely  to  be  present.  It 
is  honorable  to  the  Church  of  that  age  that  his  protest  met  the 
warm  approbation  of  Ambrose  of  Milan,  Siricius  of  Rome,  and 
not  a few  others. 

S.  Martin  left  numerous  disciples,  and  his  example  became 

*^Sulpic.  Sever.  Dialog,  iii.  15. 

*7  In  this  case  the  plea  of  the  Bishops  was  as  strong  as  any  that  was  ever 
made  for  religious  persecution.  The  Priscillianists  were  condemned  ( i ) by  a 
civil  magistrate  ; (2)  not  for  heresy,  but  for  alleged  filthy  and  wicked  prac- 
tices ; (3)  the  persecuting  prelates  (fearing  scandal)  avoided  all  open  com- 
plicity in  pronouncing  the  sentence  of  death ; (4)  the  sentence  was  confirmed 
and  carried  out  by  the  secular  arm.  Sulpic.  Sever.  Sacr.  Hist.  ii.  65. 


488 


History  of  the  Church, 

the  law  of  missionary  work  for  many  ages  after  him.  It  was, 
in  fact,  not  merely  an  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  a class  of  men 
His  Exam-  which  lay  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  methods : it 
of  Mission  honest  and  wonderfully  persistent  effort  to 

Work.  avoid  the  great  danger  to  which  a triumphant  religion 
is  exposed.  This  was  beautifully  illustrated  by  one  of  the  many 
visions  that  occurred  to  the  Saint.  For,  on  one  occasion,  the 
Devil  came  before  him  in  the  form  of  Christ,  clothed  in  purple 
and  gold  and  celestial  splendor.  The  Saint  looked  hard  at  the 
bright  phantom,  but  spake  not  a word.  Dost  thou  not  know 
me,  Martin?**  said  the  tempter — ‘‘why  art  thou  silent  in  the 
presence  of  thy  Lord?**  He  quietly  replied,  “lam  looking 
for  the  print  of  the  nails!**  Thereupon  the  fiend  vanished, 
and  a foul  odor  filled  the  cell,  showing  plainly  enough  that  in- 
credulity,''® in  this  instance  at  least,  was  not  without  its  warrant 
and  blessing. 

And  such,  with  due  allowance  for  the  trials  of  the  age  in 
which  they  lived,  was  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  monks  in 
The  Print  regal  magnificence  in  which  State- 

of  the  Nails  alHancc  had  robed  the  Church,  could  not  but  cause 

looked  jfor. 

perplexity  to  earnest  and  simple  souls.  Yet  they  durst 
not  condemn  the  splendor  in  itself : they  could  only  look  fixedly 
and  wistfully  at  the  dubious  phenomenon,  in  hopes  of  some 
better  sign  of  the  Divinity  within.  And  they  looked,  in  the 
main,  with  honest  and  steady  eyes.  They  magnified  the  Cross, 
they  searched  perseveringly  for  the  stigmata  of  the  Passion. 
Even  when  self-denial  made  them  popular,  and  popularity 
brought  wealth,  and  wealth  bred  corruption,  so  that  the  print 
of  the  nails  could  no  longer  be  seen  : yet,  ever  as  this  hap- 
pened, the  old  spirit  revived,  reform  began  anew,''5>  i\^q  wistful 

A commentator  ( Geo.  Hornius)  here  remarks  : ‘‘  This  story  savors  of 
unbelieving  Thomas.”  De  Vit.  B.  Martin,  xxv. 

29  The  history  of  Monachism  is  a continuous  chain  of  efforts  at  reform — 
Martin  of  Tours  in  one  age,  Martin  Luther  in  another — in  every  link  of  which 
we  may  discern  the  same  curious  mixture  of  rapt  enthusiasm  and  audacious 


common  sense. 


Church  and  State. 


489 

and  doubting  look  of  S.  Martin  was  repeated,  and  splendor 
vanished  with  a ‘‘  foul  odor,’’  to  be  replaced  by  fresh  efforts  at 
primitive  simplicity,  with  zeal  again  and  again  awakened  for  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  poor. 

Such,  then,  was  the  instrument  prepared  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury for  that  missionary  work,  involving  toil  and  self-  Mission  of 
denial  almost  without  a parallel,  by  which  gradually 
the  rude  sires  of  modern  Europe  were  reclaimed  from  paganism, 
and  the  foundations  of  a new  era  of  Christian  progress  were 
slowly  and  laboriously  compacted. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CHURCH  AND  STATE. — ^AMBROSE  AND  THEODOSIUS. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Theodosius  to  crown  the  work  of  his  prede- 
cessors in  the  establishment  of  the  Church  as  the  re- 

Position  of 

ligion  of  the  Empire.  He  gave  it  that  position  in  ref-  the  Church 

settled, 

erence  to  the  State,  to  heathenism  and  dissent,*  which 
it  afterwards  retained,  and  beyond  which  it  made  only  occa- 
sional and  temporary  advances. 

Neither  Constantine  nor  his  sons  had  attempted  much  more, 
with  regard  to  the  old  religion,  than  to  discourage,  or,  First 
perhaps,  in  some  matters  to  reform  it.  Th^ir  theory.  Emperors, 
at  least,  was  that  of  toleration. 

Christians,  indeed,  were  reinstated*  in  rights  of  which  they 

* Gieseler’s  Ch.  H,  75-79  (Smith’s  Am.  Ed.);  Rudiger  de  Stat,  et 
Conditio.  Paganorum^  etc. ; Beugnot,  Hist,  de  la  Destruct.  du  Pagan,  en 
Occident;  De  Broglie,  ATw/.  de  V Eglise^  etc.,  I.  i.  chap.  ii. ; Cod.  Theo- 
dos.,  etc. 

2 Euseb.  Vit.  Constant,  ii.  20-24,  3^-44;  iv.  18,  19;  Sozom.  i.  8,  9; 
Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  t.  2,  1.  3,  6;  Cod.  Justin,  vii.  t.  22,  1.  3. 


21 


490 


History  of  the  Church. 


Privileges 
of  the 
Church. 

cities. 

Exemp- 

tions. 


Honors. 


had  been  robbed,  and  for  posts  of  trust  and  honor  were  pre- 
ferred to  heathen.  Churches  were  built,  and  the 
Clergy  in  part  maintained,  at  the  cost  of  the  several 
Ecclesiastics  were  exempted  from  certain  taxes,  and 
from  offices  involving  pecuniary  burdens : exemp- 
tions which  soon  began  to  crowd  the  lower  grades  of 
the  Ministry,  and  had  in  course  of  time  to  be  modified.  The 
Church  was  allowed  to  receive  legacies.  In  special  honor  of 
the  Gospel,  the  punishment  of  crucifixion  was  aban- 
doned ; there  was  a repeal  of  the  old  laws  against  celi- 
bacy ; the  manumission  of  slaves,  once  a purely  civil  act,  was 
elevated  to  the  dignity  of  a religious  rite,  by  allowing  it  to  be 
The  Lord's  performed  in  church.  Finally,  Sunday  was  made  a 
Feast  of  universal  obligation  : all  work  and  traffic 
were  to  cease  thereon,  save  only  the  necessary  labors  of  agricul- 
ture. In  the  army  it  was  to  be  observed  by  a prayer  to  the 
Supreme  Being. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  sovereign  Pontiff  of  the  State  relig- 
ion, an  office  not  easily  abandoned  by  a prince  tenacious  of  his 
rights,  the  Emperor  discountenanced,  in  ‘‘  the  old 
persuasion,* tp^t  was  licentious,  malific,  or  of  ill 
example,  and  for  that  purpose  set  on  foot  a commis- 
sion to  inquire  into  abuses. Hence  temples  of  Venus  were 
destroyed  in  Libanus  and  the  Phoenician  Heliopolis,  and  the 
same  fate  befell  a shrine  of  -^sculapius  at  ^gae.  Priestcraft 
was  exposed  by  breaking  up  images  and  bringing  to  light  the 
machinery  within  ; secret  sacrifices  were  forbidden,  and  magic 
or  divination  for  eVil  ends,  though  for  the  cure  of  sickness  or 
Chastity  the  averting  of  storms  it  was  still  allowed.  The  Chris- 
honored.  virtue  of  chastity  was  honored  by  extremely  severe 

penalties  on  its  opposites.  Gladiator-shows  and  other  immoral 


Heathen 

Abuses 

corrected. 


3 Vetus  mos,  prseterita  usurpatio : so  Constantine  called  it. 

4Euseb.  Vit.  Con.  ii.  44-48,  56,  60;  iii.  54-58;  iv.  16,  23,  25;  Cod. 
Theodos.  ix.  t.  16,  1.  i,  3;  xii.  t.  i,  1.  21;  t.  5,  1.  2;  xvi.  t.  10,1.4;  Beugnot, 
Hist,  de  la  Destruct.  du  Pagan. 


Church  and  State. 


491 


exhibitions  were  prohibited  in  New  Rome  : the  old  city,  in  this 
and  other  matters,  was  left  very  much  to  its  own  de-  sacrifices 
vices.  The  Emperor,  the  meanwhile,  showed  himself 
a friend  of  religion  in  general,  by  tolerating  stated  and  public 
sacrifices,  and  by  insisting  in  cases  of  emergency  upon  due  con- 
sultation of  the  Haruspices. 

It  was  Constantine’s  wish,  in  short,  that  men  should  not 
throw  off  such  religion  as  they  had  until  they  were  Dread  of 
ready  for  something  better  : he  dreaded  atheism  more 
than  superstition,  and  his  hostility  to  the  latter  hardly  went 
beyond  those  bounds  which  had  long  since  been  set  by  the 
admirable  good  sense  of  Roman  legislation. 

His  sons  were  somewhat  more  zealous,  but  their  efforts  were 
directed  in  the  main  by  the  same  principle.  Chris-  Growing 
tianity,  in  fact,  needed  little  help  in  the  way  of  new 
enactments.  The  old  laws,  fairly  carried  out,  would  do  away 
with  those  rites  that  ministered  to  vice ; and  these  being  done 
away,  the  rest  of  the  heathen  fabric  would  fall  of  itself.  Sacrifices 
Constantius,  however,  prohibited  sacrifices,  on  penalty 
of  death  : an  edict  little  observed  and  not  very  rigorously  en- 
forced, especially  in  Rome  and  Alexandria.  But  as  idolatry 
became  unfashionable,  retiring  to  rural  districts  under  the  name 
of  paganism^  the  old  shrines  lost  their  votaries ; and  Christians, 
heathenized  in  temper  by  the  evils  of  the  times,  began  DfstrucUon 
to  show  their  zeal  by  acts  of  violence.  Hence  numer-  Cempus. 
ous  cases  of  fierce  iconoclasm,  winked  at  by  Constantius,  but 
severely  punished  by  the  Apostate  his  successor.  Hence,  also, 
a longer  lease  of  life  to  idolatry  among  those  inveterate  con- 
servatives, the  literary  class. 

The  brief  reaction  under  Julian  taught  a lesson  of  modera- 
tion which  was  not  altogether  fruitless.  Jovian  was  a Magic  Rites 
Catholic,  but  tolerated  dissent.  Valentinian  and  Va- 
lens  forbade  bloody  sacrifices,  and  found  it  necessary  to  break 
up  the  nests  of  treason  which  sheltered  themselves  under  the 
name  of  philosophy:  magic  was  prohibited,  sophists  were  ban- 
ished or  put  to  death,  books  on  occult  science  were  collected 


492 


History  of  the  Church. 


and  destroyed.  On  the  other  hand,  a necessity  had  arisen  for 
The  Church  Pruning  the  luxuriance  of  the  Church.  Valentinian 
restrained,  gj^^cted  that  ecclesiastics  should  not  haunt  the  houses 
of  widows  or  female  wards,  nor  should  they  accept  donations  or 
bequests  from  women  connected  with  them  by  spiritual  ties : an 
edict  upon  which  S.  Jerome  remarked,  ‘‘I  complain  not  of  the 
law,  but  I grieve  that  we  should  have  deserved  it.** 

All  these  Emperors  lived  and  reigned  the  acknowledged 
heads  of  heathenism ; and,  when  they  died,  were  duly  enrolled, 
Grattan  by  a Still  heathen  Senate,  among  the  gods.  Gratian 

was  the  first  to  reject  the  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus. 
Pontiff.  removed  the  altar  of  Victory  from  the  Senate- 

house,  and  deprived  the  temples,  priests,  and  Vestal  Virgins  of 
their  remaining  immunities  and  of  all  revenues  from  the  State. 

For  favors  of  this  kind  the  Church  paid  dearly  in  the  sacri- 
fice of  her  independence  : the  Emperor  combining  in  his  own 
Loss  of  ^be  prestige  of  the  old  pontificate,  and  what- 

Liberty  to  ever  of  influence  in  Church  affairs  belonged  in  the.  first 

the  Church.  i i i • 

ages  to  the  Christian  laity.  Hence  an  undue  inter- 
ference in  matters  both  of  discipline  and  of  doctrine.  Letters 
of  admonition  addressed  to  the  leading  Bishops;  Councils 
called,  moderated,  influenced,  approved,  upheld  by  legal  pains; 
judicial  decisions  quashed,  or  modified,  or  new  trials  ordered ; 
Episcopal  elections  interfered  with  ; Creeds,  orthodox  or  the 
„ reverse,  forced  upon  recusants : such  things  were,  in- 

Encroach-  deed,  excesscs  of  that  episcopate  from  without  which 

fnents.  . -i  i i 

Constantine  assumed,  and  they  were  more  or  less  pro- 
tested against,  but  they  were  not  the  less  dangerous  on  that 
account.  They  indicated,  in  fact,  a great  and  undefined  power, 
the  encroachments  of  which  might  prove  fatal  to  the  spiritual 
character  of  the  Church.  The  good  sense  of  Valentinian  led 
him  to  moderation  in  the  exercise  of  this  power.  ‘‘Let  the 
priests,**  said  he,  “attend  to  Church  affairs,  and  assemble  where 
they  will.**  Gratian  also  saw  the  evils  resulting  from  imperial 
interference,  and  willingly  sanctioned  that  Canon  of  Sardica, 
which,  with  a view  to  greater  equity  in  synodical  decisions, 


Church  and  State. 


493 


ments  o/‘ 
Church 
Power, 


lodged  a power  of  granting  new  trials  on  appeal  in  the  hands  of 
Julius  the  Roman  Bishop. 

Nor  were  the  encroachments  by  any  means  confined  to  one 
side. 5 Episcopal  arbitration^  which  served  in  the  first  Encroach^ 
centuries  to  keep  Christians  from  going  to  law  before 
the  heathen,  continued  under  Constantine  and  his  suc- 
cessors to  save  many  sheep  from  the  sharp  shears  of  the  Roman 
Courts,  and  elevated  the  standard  of  equity  and  mercy.  The 
custom  grew  into  a law ; so  that  finally  the  Bishops  exercised  a 
patronage  of  all  oppressed  and  dependent  persons ; were  the 
sole  judges  in  civil  and  (in  course  of  time)  even  of  criminal 
cases,  where  the  Clergy,  monks,  or  nuns  were  concerned  ; and 
were  allowed  a sort  of  equity  jurisdiction  in  general.  The 
effect  of  this  was  to  soften  the  harder  features  of  Ro- 

Ejfect  on 

man  law.^^  The  relations  of  parents  to  children,  of  the  Roman 

Laws, 

husbands  to  wives,  of  masters  to  slaves,  of  creditors 
to  debtors,  of  patrons  to  clients,  were  gradually  improved  on 
the  side  of  humanity.  The  right  of  sanctuary  also  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  temples  to  the  churches.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, the  Church  encroached  upon  the  province  of  the  State ' 
less  by  altering  the  laws  than  by  exercising  boldly  the  power  of 
intercession  : a power  which  did  much  good,  though  in  times 
of  polemical  excitement  it  was  occasionally  abused. 

But  to  attain  a high  ground  in  relations  of  this  kind  re- 
quired, on  the  Church’s  part,  a spirited  struggle  : a struggle 
not,  as  in  previous  cases,  with  heretical  princes  only,  ^ 
who  were  amenable  to  no  law,  but  with  a wise  and  of  church 

and  State, 

powerful  and  orthodox  sovereign.  Such  a sovereign 

was  found  in  Theodosius : the  ability  for  such  a struggle  in  S. 

Ambrose  of  Milan. 


5 On  this  section,  see  Gieseler’s  Ch.  Hist,  W 91,  92,  105  (Smithes  Am.  ed,), 
^ De  Broglie  well  observes : “ La  loi  civile  ....  devient  moins  dure 
mais  plus  austere.  Elle  condamne  plus  souvent  et  punit  moins  severement.’* 
He  also  justly  appeals  to  the  present  and  past  of  Europe  to  show  that  Con- 
stantine’s policy,  with  regard  to  slavery  and  such  like  things,  was  wiser 
than  would  have  been  a course  of  more  sudden  and  sweeping  reformation. 


494 


Hislory  of  the  Church. 

This  famous  prelate/  whose  election  has  been  already  no- 
ticed/ was  of  a family  that  stood  among  the  foremost  in  worldly 
Ambrose  rank,  while  it  was  further  graced,  in  a way  that  the 
of  Milan,  esteemed  more  highly,  by  the  spiritual  nobility 

of  martyrdom.  His  childhood,  it  is  said,  gave  tokens  of  future 
greatness.  A swarm  of  bees  once  alighted  upon  his  lips,  and, 
going  in  and  out  his  mouth,  soared  thence  into  the  sky,  till  they 
became  invisible.  At  another  time  he  played  Bishop  in  his 
family,  showing  his  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the  office  by  hold- 
ing out  his  hand  for  his  devout  sister  to  kiss.  It  was  an  omen 
still  more  striking,  and  creditable  to  the  character  of  the  Epis- 
copate in  those  days,  that  when  he  was  appointed  Governor  of 
Liguria,  Probus,  who  conveyed  to  him  the  orders  of  the  Em- 
peror, dismissed  him  with  the  words  : Go  and  govern,  not  as 
a magistrate  or  judge,  but  rather  as  a Bishop.** 

His  sense  of  the  high  character  of  the  Episcopate  accorded 
with  this  charge.  Preparing  himself  for  its  duties  by  prayer 
HisStudies,  3-nd  fasting  and  study  of  God*s  Word,  he  asked,^  “ not 
A.D.  374.  glory  of  Apostles,  not  the  grace  of  Prophets,  not 

the  virtue  of  Evangelists,  not  the  circumspection  of  Pastors,  but 
that  which  S.  Paul  places  last,  the  painstaking  diligence  of  a 
learner  and  a teacher ; for  he  who  teaches  faithfully  is  in  the 
best  way  of  learning.**  The  prayer  was  granted.  In  his  case,  as 
in  that  of  S.  Cyprian  and  others  suddenly  called  to  the  Bishopric 
from  the  midst  of  worldly  cares,  nothing  is  more  wonderful 
than  the  rapidity  with  which,  amid  the  duties  of  an  office  that 
pressed  him  night  and  day,  his  mind  became  saturated,  as  it 
were,  with  the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It 
was  a knowledge  that  seemed  intuitive  rather  than  acquired. 
That  Orient  light  of  the  Divine  day-spring  had  but  to  dawn 
upon  such  a mind,  to  awaken  all  its  chords  to  a delightful  har- 

7 D.  Ambros.  Mediolan.  Op.  Omn.  with  a Life  by  Paulinus  prefixed; 
Socrat.  iv.  30;  v.  ii ; Theod.  v.  13,  17,  18;  Sozom.  vii.  25;  Tillemont,  tom. 
X.  part  I ; Cave,  Lives  of  the  Fathers^  vol.  iii. 

8 Page  483. 

9 S.  Ambros.  Officiorum^  i.  I. 


Jimbi^ose  and  Theodosius,  495 

mony : the  reading  of  the  Word  was  not  so  much  a study  as  a 
blissful  inebriation. 

This  was  the  more  remarkable  in  S.  Ambrose,  because,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  true  Roman  man  of  business,  he  lived  his  i>ubiic 
in  the  public  eye  : when  not  engaged  in  the  sacred 
offices  of  the  Sanctuary,  he  sat  all  day  with  open  doors,  his 
time  and  thoughts  and  sympathies  at  every  man’s  disposal. 

With  such  a leader,  the  orthodox  cause  was  not  long  in  gain- 
ing the  ascendancy  in  Milan.  Commended  by  saintliness  of 
life  ; by  practical  ability  long  known  and  trusted  ; by  His 

an  intentness  upon  the  ends  he  had  in  view,  which  was 
not  over  scrupulous  with  regard  to  means ; by  an  eloquence 
grave,  simple,  and  sincere,  yet  occasionally  florid,  in  which 
Latin  good  sense  was  illuminated  with  the  tints  of  Oriental  im- 
agination ; by  a charity  and  generosity,  signalized  in  one  in- 
stance when  he  sold  the  Church  plate  for  the  ransom  of  Chris- 
tian captives  Ambrose  became  all-powerful  with  the  Emperor 
and  with  the  people ; Auxentius,  his  Arian  predecessor,  was  al- 
most forgotten  ; the  Divinity  of  the  Word  and  of  the  Spirit 
shone  out  from  the  cloud  of  its  temporary  eclipse  and,  in 
short,  Milan,  like  Constantinople,  was  recovered  to  the  Nicene 
Faith. 

So  things  continued  during  the  reign  of  Gratian.  Under 
Valentinian  II.,  the  boy  successor  of  that  prince,  a counter-influ- 
ence came  from  Justina,  the  Empress-mother,  a bigoted  Hcstmty 
leader  of  the  Court  faction,  which  still  adhered  to 
Arianism.  Not  long  before  the  death  of  Gratian  she  had  at- 
tempted to  set  a Bishop  of  her  party  over  the  Church  of  Sir- 
mium ; and  the  people  in  that  city  were  favorable  to  her  views. 
Ambrose  interfered.  With  no  other  authority  in  the 

A.D.  380. 

premises  than  zeal  for  a good  cause,  he  repaired  to  the 
contested  field ; took  his  seat  in  Church  upon  the  Episcopal 

*0  After  the  disastrous  defeat  and  death  of  Valens  by  the  Goths  at  Had- 
rianople. 

“ He  took  a leading  part  in  the  Council  of  Aquileia  (a.d.  381),  in  which 
Palladius  and  other  Arians  were  condemned. 


496 


History  of  the  Church. 

throne ; paralysed  by  a word'*  the  ferocity  of  an  Arian  virgin 
who  attempted  to  drag  him  thence ; and,  finally,  overawed  the 
assembly,  and  secured  the  ordination  of  a Catholic  Bishop. 
Such  things  could  happen  only  at  a time  when  Episcopal  vigor 
was  more  needed  than  scrupulous  conformity  to  the  canons. 

Of  a less  exceptionable  character  was  the  ardor  with  which 
he  exploded  the  arguments  of  Symmachus,  the  eloquent  prefect 
Contest  with  of  Rome,  who  presented  to  the  young  Emperor  an 
Symmachus.  from  the  Senate  in  behalf  of  the  Vestal  Vir- 

gins and  for  the  restoration  of  that  altar  of  Victory  which 
Gratian  had  removed.  There  was  a party  in  the  Court  which 
favored  the  appeal. But  S.  Ambrose  no  sooner  learned  of  the 
movement,  than  he  interposed  with  a remonstrance  addressed 
to  Valentinian.  The  request,  he  urged,  was  an  insult  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  altogether  unreasonable.  Its  only  excuse  was  zeal 
for  demon-worship,  which  ought  to  provoke  the  faithful  to  still 
greater  zeal  for  the  Truth.  In  fine,  if  the  Emperor  should  see 
fit  to  gratify  the  pagans  in  this  matter,  he  might  come  to  Church 
again,  but  he  would  find  no  Bishop  there,  or  one,  at  all  events, 
who  would  stand  ready  to  resist  him  and  to  reject  his  offerings. 

By  appeals  of  this  kind  the  attempt  of  Symmachus 
was  defeated  : according  to  an  epigram'^  of  the  day, 
‘‘Victory  abandoned  her  adorer,  and  by  deserting  to  Ambrose, 
showed  that  she  loved  her  enemies  better  than  her  friends.^* 

But  the  influence  of  Justina  was  steadily  increasing  in  the 
Palace.  The  Court  officers,  chiefly  Goths  and  Arians,  were 

“ Unworthy  as  I am  of  the  priesthood,  it  befits  neither  your  sex  nor 
your  profession  to  lay  hands  upon  a Bishop,  however  contemptible  he  may 
be.’^  The  virgin,  it  is  said,  died  and  was  buried  the  next  day. 

*3  In  this  contest,  it  was  a point  on  the  heathen  side,  at  a time  when  even 
Christians  were  not  superior  to  the  dread  of  omens,  that  the  Barbarians  were 
pressing  the  Empire  on  every  side,  that  Roman  arms  were  losing  their  pres- 
tige, that  Terminus  was  retreating : that,  in  short,  with  the  decline  of  the 
worship  of  Victory,  there  was  acorres  ponding  withdrawal  of  her  presence 
and  power. 

Dicendi  palmam  Victoria  tollit  amico : 

Transit  ad  Ambrosium,  plus  favet  ira  deae. — Ennodius. 


Ambrose  and  Theodosius. 


497 


hostile  to  Ambrose,  and  more  than  one  plot  was  formed  to  over- 
throw him.  Among  other  attempts,  there  was  a plan  Demandso/ 
to  spirit  him  away  from  his  stronghold  in  Milan  and  Court. 
send  him  into  exile ; but  the  scheme  recoiled  upon  the  head  of 
its  inventor.  About  the  same  time  he  was  summoned  to  the 
Palace, and  it  was  demanded  of  him  in  full  consistory 

....  a.d.  385. 

that  he  should  give  up  the  Portian  Basilica,  a church 
in  the  suburbs,  for  the  religious  services  of  the  Arians.  He  per- 
emptorily refused.  The  courtiers  tried  in  vain  to  persuade  or 
overawe  him.  The  people,  the  meanwhile,  got  wind  of  the 
matter ; beset  the  Palace  doors ; defied  the  military ; so  that 
finally  the  original  demand  had  to  be  changed  into  a request 
that  Ambrose  would  go  forth  and  appease  the  tumult.  On  the 
next  day  the  demand  was  renewed,  with  the  addition  that  he 
should  yield  the  New  Basilica,  a larger  church  within  the  city 
walls.  He  answered  that  he  had  no  power  to  give,  nor  Ambrose 
the  Emperor  to  receive  it : the  sovereign  could  not 
take  the  house  of  a mere  citizen  without  leave,  much  less  had 
he  a right  to  seize  the  House  of  God.  ‘‘But  the  Emperor,^* 
the  courtiers  argued,  “ has  power  unlimited,  and  everything  is 
his.'*  The  Saint  replied,  “ Let  him  at  all  events  submit  himself 
to  the  Lord  : we  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's, 
and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's  : to  Caesar  tribute,  to 
God  the  Church  : Caesar  can  have  no  right  to  the  temple  of 
God."  “But,"  it  was  further  urged,  “the  Court  has  surely  a 
right  to  hold  one  Basilica  of  its  own  : will  you  deny  the 
Emperor  the  liberty  to  go  to  church?"  “ The  Court  has  no 
right,"  the  Bishop  answered,  “to  be  joined  to  an  adulteress: 
and  she  is  an  adulteress  who  is  not  the  lawful  spouse  of  Christ. 
It  is  honor  enough  to  the  Emperor  to  be  called  a son  of  the 
Church : the  Emperor  is  within  the  Church,  not  over  it." 

*5  S.  Ambros,  Epistol.  xxi.  Serm.  c.  Auxent.  29,  30,  35,  36.  The  an- 
swers given  by  S.  Ambrose,  on  the  three  several  occasions  of  this  narrative, 
are  not  very  clearly  dated  in  the  Epistles  xx.  and  xxi.,  or  in  the  Sermon  at- 
tached to  Ep.  xxi. ; but  as  they  were  substantially  the  same  in  each  instance, 
I have  thrown  them  together  in  the  opening  of  the  trouble. 


498 


History  of  the  Church. 

These  things  occurred  on  the  three  days  immediately  pre- 
ceding Holy  Week.  The  Palm  Sunday  that  followed  was  a 
great  day  in  Milan:  and  the  excitement  continued, 

The  Contest  ° ^ ^ i j t 

for  the  with  frcQuent  messages  between  the  Palace  and  the 

ScLsiliccis,  ^ 

Church,  until  the  ensuing  Thursday.*^  Ambrose  was 
in  the  Old  Church  all  day — retiring  to  his  own  house  by  night, 
that  the  Emperor  might  seize  him,  if  he  pleased — weeping, 
praying,  expounding  the  Psalms  and  Lessons,  following  step  by 
step  the  wondrous  drama  of  that  week  as  recorded  in  the  Gos- 
pels and  noted  in  the  Church  services,  drawing  comfort  from  the 
examples  of  Jonah  and  of  Job,  as  they  came  up  in  the  regular 
Lessons,  and  denouncing  the  evil  spirit  of  Job’s  wife,  Herodias, 
Jezebel  and  others  of  Eve’s  daughters.  Occasionally  he  sighed, 
as  he  received  (like  Job)  the  tidings  of  new  evils,  or  heard 
sounds  of  a swelling  tumult  from  the  direction  of  the  New 
Scene  in  the  Cliurch.  But  the  flock  immediately  under  his  eye 
Old  Church.  quiet  and  confident.  They  had  adopted  as  their 
watchword,  We  pray,  but  do  not  fight ; we  pray,  but  are  not 
afraid  ! ” The  Bishop,  in  like  manner,  was  determined  to  keep 
still.  When  told  that  an  Arian  priest  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  Catholics,  he  sent  some  of  his  Clergy  to  the  rescue ; but  to  all 
entreaties  that  he  would  go  forth  himself  he  turned  a deaf  ear : 
‘^Even  Christ,”  he  declared,  would  not  give  Himself  to  the 
people,  lest  they  should  make  Him  a king.”  So  again  : It  is 
for  me  not  to  excite  the  people,  to  calm  them  is  in  the  hand  of 
God.”  And  so  again,  addressing  himself  to  some  of  the  Gothic 
officers  of  the  Court,  ‘‘Is  it  for  this  the  Roman  soil  received 
you,  that  you  should  become  disturbers  of  the  public  peace?” 
Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  Old  Church. 

About  the  New  Basilica  the  danger  of  a tumult  was  most 
imminent,  especially  on  Wednesday.  A veil  had  been  put  up 
The  New  the  door,  sequestrating  the  building  to  the  service 
Church.  Emperor.  The  citizens  had  been  forbidden  to 

leave  their  houses ; the  more  prominent  among  them  had  been 
cast  into  prison  and  mulcted  with  heavy  fines : a hardship  felt 
S.  Ambros.  Epist.  xx.  ad  Marcellin.  Soror. 


Ambrose  and  Theodosius. 


499 


the  more  keenly  because  in  the  Holy  Week  it  was  customary  to 
release  all  debtors.  Still  the  Catholic  crowd  swarmed  in  over- 
flowing numbers  through  the  streets,  and  filled  the  Basilica  to 
its  utmost  capacity.  It  needed  but  a leader  to  bring  on  a riot, 
perhaps  a revolution.  A band  of  children  tore  the  imperial 
veil.  The  military  stood  about,  undecided  what  to 
do,  or  even  fraternizing  with  the  people.  Soon  a ^suHnit 
rumor  went  abroad  that  the  Bishop  had  given  orders 
to  excommunicate  them  : many  of  them,  in  consequence,  hur- 
ried off  to  the  Old  Basilica  and  made  their  submission. 

This  gave  a new  turn  to  the  exhortations  of  S.  Ambrose  and 
to  the  Psalm  for  the  day.  O God ! the  heathen  have  come  into 
Thine  inheritance — you  heard  it,  brethren,  in  this  morning^s 
service,  and  you  responded  in  bitterness  of  soul.  The  The  Psaim 
heathen  have  come : aye,  more  than  the  heathen  ! The  dor  the  day, 
Goths  have  come,  and  men  of  diverse  nations  have  come  : with 
arms  have  they  come  and  poured  into  the  Sanctuary  and  seized 
it.  So  we  thought  in  our  unwisdom,  and  in  our  ignorance  of 
God’s  counsel  we  sorely  grieved  about  it.  But  O the  depths 
of  the  oracles  of  the  Spirit ! The  heathen  have  come,  but  into 
Thine  inheritance  have  they  come.  They  have  come  heathen, 
but  they  have  become  Christian  men.  They  came  to  wrest  the 
heritage  from  us,  but  they  have  stayed  to  be  co-heirs.  Our 
enemies  are  our  defenders,  our  adversaries  are  our  allies.  God 
hath  made  peace  in  His  place : He  hath  broken  the  horns  of 
the  bows,  the  shield,  the  sword,  and  the  battle  ! ” 

Through  Wednesday  night  the  Saint  remained  in  church, 
finding  it  impossible  to  make  his  way  out  without  vio-  The  Court 
lence  : but  on  Thursday  the  Court  capitulated  and  a y^nds, 
truce  was  effected.  The  soldiers  were  withdrawn  from  the  Ba- 
silica : the  citizens  who  had  been  seized  were  released,  and  the 
fines  imposed  upon  them  were  remitted.  But  amid  the  general 
rejoicing,  Calligonus,  the  captain  of  the  guard,  still  ventured  to 
mutter  to  S.  Ambrose,  ‘‘If  you  despise  Valentinian,  I will  take 
off  your  head  ; ” to  which  the  Saint  replied,  “ You  will  act  like 
a eunuch,  and  I will  suffer  like  a Bishop.” 


500 


History  of  the  Church. 


Contest 
renewed., 
A.D.  386. 


The  contest  was  renewed  the  next  year*^  under  the  auspices 
of  an  Arian  prelate,  who,  having  in  some  way  brought  his  name 
into  ill  repute,  had  changed  it  from  Mercurinus  to  Aux- 
entius,  without,  however,  any  change  for  the  better  in 
his  character:  as  S.  Ambrose  said,  ‘‘he  had  put  off 
wolf  and  had  put  on  wolf,  and  if  he  had  changed  his  name  a 
third  time  it  would  have  meant  wolf  still.  This  time  the  Por- 
tian  Basilica  was  seized,  and  the  Bishop  was  commanded  to 
leave  the  city.  He  would  have  felt  it  his  duty  to  obey,  had  he 
not  known  that  the  object  of  the  Court  was  merely  to  get  rid  of 
him  that  they  might  rob  the  church.  Besides'*which,  he  felt  a 
tender  solicitude  for  the  soul  of  the  young  Emperor.  The 
prince  should  not  incur  the  guilt  of  Ahab  so  long  as  a faithful 
^ . Naboth  was  alive  to  prevent  it.  Night  and  day,  then, 

the  church,  crowded  with  a dense  mass  of  people, 
barred  against  all  intruders,  and  hemmed  in  by  the 
military,  resounded  with  psalms  and  hymns*®  and  spiritual 
songs  : for  the  opportunity  was  seized  to  institute  vigils,  after 
the  manner  of  S.  Basil  in  the  East,  and  to  imitate  the  Oriental 
style  of  antiphonal*^  chanting.  Among  those  who  watched  with 
interest  the  progress  of  this  struggle,  was  one  great  soul,  just 
escaping  at  that  time  from  the  meshes  of  error,  the  future  S. 
Augustine.  Among  the  vigil-keepers  was  another  great  soul,  S. 
Monica,  the  mother  of  Augustine.  The  strife  was  several  days 
prolonged,  but  the  Court  at  length  had  to  yield.  It  contributed 
to  this  result,  that,  the  Ambrosian  Church  being  ded- 
icated at  this  period,  and  the  Bishop  desiring  to  sanc- 
tify the  altar  by  placing  under  it  the  body  of  some 
saint,  the  remains  of  two  martyrs,  Gervasius  and  Protasius,  were 
opportunely  discovered ; and  a blind  man,  having  touched  the 
relics,  was  restored  to  sight. The  miracle  was  bruited  abroad 


Relics 
of  the 
Martyrs. 


'7  S.  Ambros.  Epistol.  xxi.  xxii. ; Oral.  c.  Auxent. ; S.  Augustin.  Confess. 
ix.  15,  16;  Paulin.  Ambros.  Vita. 

S.  Ambrose  himself  composed  hymns  for  the  occasion. 

*9  The  example  was  soon  followed  (says  Paulinus)  throughout  the  West. 
The  miracle  rests  on  the  very  explicit  testimony  of  S.  Ambrose,  and  S. 


Ambrose  and  Theodosius. 


501 


through  the  city,  and  enthusiasm  ran  so  high  as  to  sweep  away 
the  faint  remains  of  Arian  opposition. 

While  these  things  were  going  on,  the  power  of  Maximus 
the  Gallic  tyrant  was  steadily  growing  in  the  West : so  that 
after  some  attempts  at  negotiation,  Valentinian  fled  to 
Thessalonica  and  placed  himself  under  the  protection 
of  the  great  Theodosius.  War  ensued  ; Maximus  was 
defeated ; Theodosius  came  to  Milan.  When  he  entered  the 
church  to  give  thanks  for  his  victory,  he  stood,  as  emperors  in 
the  East  were  accustomed  to  do,  within  that  part  of  the  sacred 
building  reserved  to  the  Clergy.^*  S.  Ambrose  sent  his  Deacon 
and  required  him  to  withdraw.  The  Emperor  took  the  rebuke 
in  admirable  temper,  and  thanked  the  Bishop  for  teaching  him 
that  ‘‘  though  purple  might  make  an  emperor,  it  could  not  make 
a priest.'* 

It  was  not  long  before  occasions  arose  for  other  lessons,  one 
of  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  of  a very  questionable  char- 
acter. The  Christians  of  Callinicus  had  burned  a Jew-  case  0/ the 
ish  synagogue,  by  the  order  of  their  Bishop.”  Theo- 
dosius  very  properly  commanded  the  Bishop  to  rebuild  it.  But 
when  S.  Ambrose  heard  of  the  order  he  was  thrown  into  ‘‘such 
a heat  as  he  had  never  known  before  " : he  could  not  look  at 
the  matter  from  a political  point  of  view ; he  saw  in  it  only  a 
commander  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy — a brave  sol- 
dier punished  for  burning  the  enemy's  magazines.  To  be  silent 

Augustine ; also  on  that  of  Paulinus,  the  biographer  of  S.  Ambrose.  S.  Am- 
bros.  EpistoL  xxii. ; Sej'm.  de  invent.  Corp.  SS.  G.  et  Protas. ; S.  Augustin. 
Confess,  ix.  16;  Serm.  318,  286;  De  Civit.  Deiy  xxii.  8. 

2*  This  incident  Theodoret  places  later;  but  it  seems  to  come  more  nat- 
urally in  connection  with  the  first  arrival  of  Theodosius. 

“S.  Ambrose  (Ep.  xl.)  seems  to  think  it  possible  that  the  Bishop  might 
not  have  ordered  it : for  though  he  had  confessed  to  the  fact,  his  confession 
might  have  been  “the  blessed  lie”  of  a man  inculpating  himself,  to  shield 
others  or  to  obtain  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  Consequently the  Emperor  was 
much  to  blame  for  putting  so  strong  a temptation  in  the  way  of  a Bishop. 
This  Epistle  is  altogether  a most  remarkable  specimen  of  the  sophistry  of 
passion. 


502 


History  of  the  Church. 


under  such  circumstances  was  to  incur  the  guilt  of  sacrilege  : 
it  was  to  endanger  the  Emperor's  salvation  ; it  was  to  give 
people  ground  for  believing  that  there  was  no  Bishop  in  Milan, 
or  one,  at  all  events,  who  dared  not  do  his  duty.  Seeing  things 
in  this  light,  Ambrose  wrote  to  Theodosius,  charitably 
Emperor  hoping  (at  the  end  of  his  letter)  that  he  might  not  be 
obliged  to  speak  openly  in  Church.  In  this  hope  he 
was  disappointed.  So  he  finally  felt  obliged  to  preach  at  the 
great  monarch ; and  when  preaching  failed,  he  refused  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  service  unless  the  Emperor  would  give  his  word  to 
recall  the  obnoxious  order.  Theodosius  yielded,  and  the  burner 
of  the  synagogue  went  unpunished. 

The  Saint  was  not  so  successful  when  he  tried  to  stay  the 
Emperor's  rage*^  against  the  wicked  populace  of  Thessalonica. 
Outrage  The  Crime  of  that  people  was  certainly  atrocious.  For 
%ahnica,  better  cause  than  a refusal,  on  the  part  of  Botheric 
A.D.  390.  commander  of  the  forces  in  Illyricum,  to  release 

a certain  pet  of  the  race-course,  a notorious  charioteer  impris- 
oned for  a crime  of  the  most  infamous  description,  a bloody 
tumult  had  occurred  in  which  the  commander  and  several  offi- 
cers had  been  barbarously  murdered.  The  Emperor  was  angry 
enough  to  dissemble  his  anger ; he  seemed  to  yield  to  the  en- 
treaties of  the  Bishop : but  through  the  influence  of  other  coun- 
sellors, and  possibly  from  a feeling  of  pique  at  the  frequency  of 
episcopal  interference,''^  orders  were  issued  secretly  that  seven 
thousand  of  the  Thessalonicans  should  atone  in  their 

The 

Emperor's  blood  the  Crime  of  the  populace.  Second  thoughts 

Eeveuge. 

led  to  a countermand  of  the  edict,  but  it  came  too 
late.  Three  hours  the  sword  raged  in  the  circus  of  the  doomed 
city,  and  the  tale  of  victims  was  complete.  When  S.  Ambrose 

23  The  Emperor’s  heat  of  temper,  with  his  readiness,  nevertheless,  to 
listen  to  reason,  had  been  recently  shown  (a.d.  387)  in  connection  with  a 
sedition  at  Antioch.  See  Theod.  v.  19,  20. 

24  In  his  letter  on  this  subject,  S.  Ambrose  alludes  to  the  impression  that 
he  knew  too  much  about  affairs  in  the  Palace,  and  apologizes  for  it.  Epis- 
tol.  li. 


Ambrose  and  Theodosius. 


503 


heard  the  fearful  news,  there  was  no  such  heat as  in  the  syn- 
agogue transaction  : it  was  rather  a sickening  and  sinking  of  the 
soul.  He  could  not  bear  to  see  the  Emperor’s  face.  Pleading 
illness,  he  retired  into  the  country,  and  wrote  thence  an  epistle, 
sober,  quiet,  affectionate,  tenderly  reproachful,  and 
mildly  apologetic,  a model  of  that  tact  which  only  Ambrose  to 
true  feeling  can  inspire. But  in  all  its  ‘‘meekness 
of  wisdom”  there  was  no  concealment  of  its  meaning.  The 
Emperor  had  sinned  like  David  : like  David  he  must  repent. 
The  devil  had  begrudged  him  the  crowning  grace  of  clemency, 
and  had  plucked  it  from  him  : he  must  recover  it  at  once  in  the 
only  way  permitted.  “ For  my  part,”  the  Saint  added,  “ I have 
no  reproach  to  make.  I am  not  angry,  I am  only  afraid.  I 

dare  not  offer  the  Sacrifice  if  you  assist  at  it The  Lord 

Himself  hath  expressly  forbidden  it.  The  very  night  when  I 
was  preparing  to  leave  the  city,  pressed  with  anxious  cares,  I 
saw  you  in  a vision  coming  to  the  Church,  and  no  power  was 
left  me  to  proceed  with  the  sacred  service.” 

In  spite  of  the  warning  the  Emperor  went  to  Church.^  The 
Bishop  met  him  at  the  gate,  took  hold  of  his  purple  robe,  and 
said,  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  people,  “ Stand  back ! penanceof 
How  dare  you  lift  up  in  prayer  hand»  steeped  in  the 
blood  of  innocents  ? How  receive  in  such  hands  the  most 
sacred  Body  of  our  Lord  ? How  carry  His  precious  Blood  to  a 
mouth  whence  issued  the  word  of  fury?  Depart  and  repent. 
Submit  to  the  bonds  of  discipline : the  bonds  which  alone  can 
restore  you  to  health.”  Theodosius  submitted.  Eight  months 
after,  when  Christmas-tide  approached,  he  shut  himself  up  in 
his  palace,  mourned  bitterly,  and  shed  floods  of  tears.  “The 
House  of  God  is  open  to  slaves  and  beggars;  but  to  me  the 
Church  is  closed,  and  so  are  the  gates  of  Heaven  !”  Hh 

At  last  “indulgence”  was  accorded  to  his  prayers, 
the  sincerity  of  his  repentance  being  proved  by  an  edict,  equally 

25  The  contrast  between  this  and  the  Synagogue  Epistle  is  very  striking. 
Ep.  li. 

^^Theod.  V.  18;  Sozom.  vii.  25. 


504 


History  of  the  Church.  ^ 

honorable  to  himself  and  to  the  prelate  who  required  it,  that 
there  should  be  thenceforward  an  interval  of  thirty  days  between 
every  sentence  of  death  and  its  final  confirmation.  On  this  con- 
dition he  was  released  from  his  bonds  and  allowed  to  enter  the 
sacred  place. 

Under  such  a sovereign,  instructed  by  such  a pastor,  the 
triumph  of  Christianity  could  not  be  delayed  much 
tAe  Church.  iQjQggj. . heathenism  rapidly  retired  from  its  high  places 
in  the  cities,  and  became,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  a 
pagan  superstition. 

Even  the  Senate  began  to  give  way,  and  wherever  their  hearts 
might  be, their  ‘‘feet,”  at  all  events,  had  to  “follow  the  opinion 
Severity  of  the  Emperor.”  Severe  edicts  went  forth  against  all 
forms  of  idolatry.  Symmachus  again  pleaded  in  vain 
A.D.  391-394.  Vestals,  the  priests,  and  for  discarded  Victory. 

Not  only  were  the  expenses  of  sacrifices  no  longer  defrayed  out 
of  the  public  treasury,  but  the  heathen  were  even  forbidden  to 
go  near  the  temples.  It  had  been  well  had  the  same  prohibi- 
tion been  extended  to  Christians ; but  as  it  was  not,  zeal  against 
idolatry  began  to  run  riot,  and  disgraceful  scenes  of  violence 
The  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  The  great  temple  of 
Serapeum.  upon  the  immunity  of  which  the  very  exist- 

ence of  the  world  was  thought  to  depend, thus  perished  in 
Alexandria  : but  earth  and  sky  were  not  shaken  by  its  fall,  nor 
even  was  the  Nile  stayed  from  its  accustomed  overflow ; on  the 
contrary,  as  the  crowd  stood  around  in  trembling  expectation,  a 
swarm  of  rats  ran  from  the  shattered  image  of  the  god,  and  the 
superstition^  was  exploded  in  a peal  of  laughter.  By  events  of 

27  “ Qua  vocat  egregii  sententia  principis,  illuc 

Libera  turn  pedibus  turn  corde  frequentia  transit.’* 

Prudent,  in  Symmach.  i.  699,  ss.  The  same  Senate,  however,  decreed  the 
customary  divine  honors  to  Theodosius,  upon  his  death. 

28  Theod.  V.  22;  Socrat.  v.  16. 

29  Even  Christians  found  it  hard  to  shake  off  these  heathen  superstitions. 
Thus,  S.  Ambrose,  on  one  occasion,  heard  the  mass  of  his  flock  shouting  at 
the  moon,  to  help  her  through  the  travail  of  an  eclipse.  Serm.  de  Defectione 
LuncB. 


Ambrose  and  Theodosius, 


505 

this  kind  the  confidence  of  the  Christians  and  the  dismay  of  the 
heathen  were  wonderfully  increased. 

Still  the  shrines  of  the  old  gods  had  at  least  their  rhetorical 
avengers.  Those  busy  iconoclasts,  ‘‘the  black-robed  Rhetorical 
tribe  (of  monks)  whose  elaborately  pale  faces  con- 
cealed  an  elephantine- capacity  for  meat  and  drink,’’  were  made 
the  targets  of  the  wit  of  the  eloquent  Libanius.^®  The  priests 
were  not  as  zealous  as  the  orators.  When  they  saw  the  temples 
ruined,  “they  had  no  choice,”  says  the  same  Libanius,  “but 
either  to  be  silent  or  to  die.”  None  of  them  adopted  the  latter 
alternative  : so  that  the  fall  of  heathenism,  while  it  was  attended 
with  circumstances  discreditable  to  Christianity,  evoked  no  in- 
stances of  heroism  honorable  to  itself. 

The  death-struggle  was  prolonged,  going  on  from  place  to 
place,  with  frequent  edicts  from  the  Emperors,^*  and  with  riots 
now  from  the  pagan  side  and  now  from  the  Christian, 

^ ° struggle 

through  the  whole  of  the  next  century:  a struggle  in  iong 
which  charges  of  falsehood,  wrong,  and  violence  were 
used  by  either  party  with  almost  equal  truth. 3*  Under  Arcadius 
and  Honorius  many  temples  escaped  destruction  by  being  appro- 
priated to  State  uses.  Some,  such  as  the  Pantheon  in  Rome, 
were  converted  into  churches.  It  was  not  till  towards  the  mid- 
dle of  the  sixth  century,  under  Justinian  I.,  that  paganism  was 
driven  from  its  stronghold  among  men  of  letters  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  New  Platonic  School  at  Athens,  while  an  edict  of  the 
same  Emperor  required  all  heathen  to  be  baptized. 

30  He  wrote  a vigorous  defence  of  the  temples,  addressed  to  Theodosius, 
in  which  the  monks  are  severely  lashed — unhappily  with  too  much  justice,  so 
far  as  some  of  them  were  concerned. 

3*  See  Gieseler’s  Ch.  H.  \ 79. 

32  S.  Augustine  makes  a heathen  say,  “ Why  should  I turn  Christian  ? I 
have  suffered  wrong  from  a Christian  and  have  not  done  wrong : a Christian 
has  sworn  falsely  to  me,  but  I to  him  never.”  So  S.  Chrysostom  : ‘‘  Not  a 
heathen  would  be  left,  if  we  were  really  Christians : but  now  there  are  no 
converts,”  etc. 


22 


BOOK  V. 


FROM  THE  RISE  OF  NESTORIANISM 

TO  THE 

CLOSE  OF  THE  TRULLAN  COUNCIL. 


A.D.  428-691. 


, > ■-J'-'-.S!  ' 

_ ct|<i|  ■ , .-  ..  f v-W’  ■ 

■»  V>«-1  ^ 


At' 


Book  V. 


CHAPTER  I. 

NESTORIUS  AND  S.  CYRIL. 

On  the  death  of  Sisinnius,  the  fourth  in  succession  from  S. 
Chrysostom,  the  See  of  Constantinople  was  hotly  contested  : 
some  rallied  around  Proclus,  a learned  and  saintly  „ 

Nest  onus 

Bishop,  the  titular  Metropolitan  of  Cyzicum,*  others  Bishop^ 
around  Philip,  a distinguished  Presbyter  of  the  city. 

Through  the  influence  of  the  Court  both  candidates  were 
dropped  ; and  Nestorius,  a Presbyter  of  Antioch,  a second 
Chrysostom  (it  was  thought)  in  eloquence  and  devotion,  was 
duly  elected.  He  was  a monk,  a man  of  severe  life,  a ready 
extemporaneous  speaker,  a controversialist  of  great  renown,  a 
disciple  of  the  rationalizing  school  of  Theodorus  of  Mopsuestia. 
That  he  was  not  deficient  in  the  pride  of  orthodoxy  was  shown 
by  his  first  speech  to  Theodosius  after  his  consecration.  ‘‘  Give 
me,  O Emperor,’*  he  exclaimed,  ‘‘a  world  purged  of  heresy, 
and  I will  bestow  on  you  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  : assist  me  in 
putting  down  the  sects,  and  I will  help  you  to  conquer  the 
Persians.” 

Five  days  after,  he  proved  his  zeal  by  conducting  an  assault 
upon  a Church  of  the  Arians : which  happening  to  take  fire 


* Socrat.  vii.  28. 


5 1 o History  of  the  Chw^ch. 

during  the  process  of  demolition,  the  crowd  greeted  their  new 
His  Zeal  witli  the  oiiiinous  title  of  Incendiary,  With 

against  eoual  animositv  he  attacked  the  Novatians,  Macedo- 

Heretics,  . . 

mans,  Pelagians,  and  at  a later  time  the  opponents  of 
the  Pelagians,  under  the  name  of  Manichaeans.  Acts  of  this 
kind  were  not  unpopular."*  In  times  of  general  weakness,  vio- 
lence in  word  or  deed  passes  current  for  strength.  Nestorius, 
by  his  excesses,  may  have  offended  a few  : but  the  multitude 
applauded  his  zeal ; the  Court  helped  him  on  with  intolerant 
edicts  ; and  even  the  heretics  whom  he  harassed  were  not  alien- 
ated,^ for  ‘‘many  of  them  at  that  time  came  over  to  the  Cath- 
olic Faith. 

The  case  was  different  when,  within  six  months  after  his  con- 
^ secration,  he  began  to  assail  imagined  errors  within  the 

Quarrel.  Church:'^  when,  as  Socrates  says,  he-converted  an  inno- 
cent phrase  into  “ a bugbear,’*  and  instituted  what  was  virtually 
a new  test  of  heresy. 

Anastasius,  an  Antiochean  Presbyter  and  an  intimate  friend 
of  Nestorius,  asserted,  in  a public  discourse,  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  ou^ht  not  to  be  called  Theotokos,  or  Mother  of 

Denial  of  d e*  i j 

^Th  ^ implying,  as  he  urged,  that  Deity 

could  be  born  of  Humanity.  The  objection  was  a new 
one,  and  was  vehemently  resented.  Every  one  was  accustomed 
to  the  title  : no  one  had  ever  thought  of  attaching  to  it  a mean- 
ing so  manifestly  absurd.  The  preacher,  therefore,  w'as  silenced 
by  the  clamor  of  the  people.  Dorotheus,  a Bishop,  another 
friend  of  Nestorius,  came  to  his  relief.  any  manf  he 

cried,  call  Mary  Theotokos,  let  him  be  anathema.'^  Nestorius 

2 Socrates  speaks  of  them  as  offensive  to  those  “ who  did  not  cherish  a 
senseless  antipathy  to  the  very  name  of  heretic’’ — that  is,  to  a minority. 
Socrat.  vii.  29. 

sSocrat.  vii.  31. 

4 Socrat.  vii.  29,  31-34  ; Evagrius,  i.  1-7  ; for  documents,  etc.,  see  Mansi, 
iv.  V.  and  Hardouin.  i. ; Marii.  Mercator.  0pp.  Ed.  Gamier ; Neale’s  Holy 
Eastern  Church,  vol.  i ; Gieseler,  \ 88. 


'Nestorius  and  S,  Cyril.  5 1 1 

sat  by  and  held  his  peace : but  no  one  doubted  that  the  new 
issue  was  opened  at  his  suggestion. 

All  this  occurred  on  the  twenty-second  of  November.  Christ- 
mas was  nigh  at  hand,  the  great  Feast  of  the  Nativity  : the  time 
intervening  was  felt  to  be  the  lull  which  precedes  a storm,  and 
the  feeling  spread  rapidly  to  all  parts  of  the  Church,  py^p^ring 
Nestorius,  it  afterwards  appeared,  was  preparing  for  for  Battle, 

, Nov,  22, 428. 

battle.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  the  destined  antagonist 
of  Nestorius,  was  at  work  on  his  annual  Paschal  Epistle,  now 
nearly  due,  for  which  no  subject  could  be  more  proper  than  the 
question  just  started  : he  wrote,  therefore,  on  the  Doctrine  of 
the  Incarnation,  setting  forth  the  Faith  as  commonly  held,  and 
guarding  it,  so  far  as  possible,  against  the  danger  of  misappre- 
hensions. 

The  Son  of  Ggd,  he  urged,  did  not  come  to  man  merely,  or 
take  man  upon  him  as  a garment  that  may  be  put  on  and  off : 
He  verily  became  man  : He  made  man  His  own  ; He 

^ . Cyril  s 

showed  Himself  in  the  world  as  being  one  of  us ; the  Paschal /or 
Flesh  in  which  He  was  manifest  was  truly  His  Flesh  ; 
so  that  whatever  was  done  or  suffered  in  that  Flesh,  the  Son  of 
God  did,  the  Son  of  God  suffered — without^  however,  any  suf- 
fering or  change  in  His  Divine  and  ineffable  Nature.  Hence 
there  could  be  no  harm  in  saying,  Mary  bore  Christ,  or  Mary 
bore  God ; nay,  there  could  be  no  harm  in  saying,  even,  God 
increased  in  wisdom  and  stature  for  though  God  in  His  proper 
nature  is  incapable  of  birth  or  of  increase,  yet  by  His  eternal 
purpose  of  assuming  man's  nature  He  made  Himself  in  some 
sort  capable  of  both.  In  short,  Christ  is  one  and  the  same 
Divine  Being,  whether  we  call  Him  fFesus  or  the  Word,  Em- 
manuel or  God.  To  divide^  Him  in  any  way,  to  imagine  a man 
Jesus  merely  joined  to  the  Divine  Word  and  distinguishable 

5 Cyril’s  reasoning  on  this  point  is  more  bold  than  clear.  Ep.  Pas- 
chal. xvii. 

® This  refers  to  the  then  received  reading  of  i John,  iv.  3 — “ every  spirit 
6 Xvu,  which  divideth,  Jesus  Christ.”  See  Socrat.  vii.  32. 


512 


History  of  the  Church. 


from  Him,  were  to  attribute  to  that  man  a chief  share  in  the 
work  of  grace  which  the  Son  of  God  wrought  it  were  to  make 
that  man  the  Offering,  that  man  the  Priest ; it  were  to  make  that 
man  the  worthy  object  of  Divine  adoration  ; it  were  to  substi- 
tute, in  short,  a human  for  a Divine  Atonement. 

So,  in  substance,  Cyril  wrote,  with  great  courage  in  facing 
the  real  difficulties  of  the  question,  with  remarkable  forethought 
Sagacity  of  of  issucs  impending  from  opposite  directions,  and  with 
.S’,  cyru.  least  possible  allusion  to  the  troubles  which  were 

brewing  in  Constantinople. 

On  the  other  hand,  Nestorius  had  armed  himself  with  three 
TAree  discourses  which  were  delivered  respectively  on  Christ- 

Sermons  of  ,-r^  -ii-t-. 

Nestorius.  mas,  New  Year  s Day,  and  the  Feast  of  the  Epiphany. 

To  use  the  term  Theotokos,  he  urged,  was  to  imitate  the 
heathen,  who  had  mothers  for  their  gods ; it  was  to  contradict 
His  S.  Paul,  who  testified  of  Christ  that  He  was  “without 
Doctrine,  witliout  mother,  without  descent  ^ ^ ; it  was  to 

lose  sight  of  the  distinction,  “That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh 
is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit  : to  avoid 
such  consequences,  we  should  believe  the  Son  of  Mary  to  be  a 
temple  wherein  God  dwelt,  a vestment  He  was  clothed ; 

in  short,  not  God,  but  Theodbchos y TheophbruSy  one  inhabited  by 
God,  yet  entitled  to  adoration,  by  reason  of  the  veiled  Deity 
who  dwelt  within.® 

On  this  last  point,  the  propriety  of  worshipping  Christ  as 
One,  on  account  of  the  intimate  connection  of  the  two  natures y the 
difference  between  Nestorius  and  S.  Cyril  might  seem 
almost  to  have  vanished  in  a mist  of  words.  There 
remained,  however,  the  fierce  hostility  to  the  term  Theotbkos  as 
a title  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  studied  application  to  Christ  of 
such  words  as  Theophbros — words  which  expressed  only  a Divine 
indwelling.  All  this  looked  suspicious,  to  say  the  least.  More- 


His 

Evasions. 


7 The  logical  connection  between  the  Nestorian  and  Pelagian  heresies  was 
seen  by  S.  Cyril,  and  by  most  theologians,  at  a glance. 

® The  chief  sentences  of  Nestorius  are  given  in  Gieseler’s  notes,  § 88. 


Nestorius  and  S.  Cyril.  5 1 3 

over,  Nestorius  was  not  content  to  act  on  the  defensive  : he 
anathematized  his  opponents,  he  called  them  Apollinarians. 
Hence  a great  stir  in  Constantinople.  First  a certain  monk 
refused  to  commune  with  the  Bishop  : he  was  scourged  and 
driven  into  exile.  Then  a layman  named  Eusebius,  General 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Doryl^eum,  showed  in  a brief 
tract  that  the  new  doctrine  was  but  a revival  of  the  heresy  of 
Paul  of  Samosata.  Marius  Mercator,  a Latin  residing  in  the 
city,  and  a well-known  opponent  of  the  Pelagian  heresy,  took 
and  maintained  a similar  ground.  Some  of  the  Clergy  followed 
their  example  : though  with  the  Court  and  Patriarch  against 
them,  they  could  utter  their  sentiments  only  at  great  risks.  It 
was  not  so  easy  to  silence  the  Monks : and  the  violent  acts  of 
Nestorius,  which  under  different  circumstances  might  have  pro- 
voked little  comment,  now  appeared  in  their  true  shape  as  acts 
of  tyranny. 

At  the  Feast  of  the  Incarnation,  the  twenty-fifth  of  March, 
Proclus  preached  in  the  great  Church,  in  presence  of  Nestorius: 
his  subject,  of  course,  was  the  Virgin  Theotokos,  that  sermon 
bush  which  burned  with  fire  but  was  not  consumed, 
that  Mother  and  Maid  who  embraced  Him  whom  the  Heaven 
of  heavens  cannot  contain.  It  was  a sermon  rich  in  Oriental 
imagery,  richer  still  in  theologic  lore.  Nestorius  answered  it 
extemporaneously,  and  followed  up  his  strictures  after-  Answers 0/ 
wards  with  several  more  studied  replies.  No  new  point 
was  made,  beyond  a vehement  assertion  that  by  ‘^the  Apostle 
and  High  Priest  of  our  Profession^’  we  are  to  understand  the 
man  Jesus,  not  the  everlasting  Word.  There  was  much  bitter- 
ness, in  these  discourses,  against  the  ‘‘generation  of  vipers” 
who  refused  to  hear  them  : much  of  a fierce  determination  to 
maintain  at  all  hazards  the  unpopular  issue.  They  were  widely 
and  industriously  circulated.  Wherever  they  went  ^ 

they  carried  strife  with  them.  At  last,  coming  into  the  end 

the  hands  of  the  Egyptian  monks,  they  furnished  S. 

Cyril  a reason,  or  as  some  say  a pretext,  for  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  growing  quarrel, 

2 2* 


514  History  of  the  Church. 

This  remarkable  man,  who  holds  a place  hardly  second  to 
CyriVsear-  that  of  S.  Athanasius  in  the  History  of  Dogma,  rests 
ly  Career,  little  obloquy,  from  certain  events  connected 

with  the  beginning^  of  his  career. 

He  was  the  nephew  of  Theophilus.  He  resembled  that  vio- 
lent prelate  in  natural  heat  of  temper.  Entering  the  Ministry, 
Trying  moreover,  under  his  auspices,  he  fell  heir  to  his  preju- 
Posttton.  dices  and  to  his  general  policy.  A monastic  training 
of  six  years  under  the  severe  Hilarion  was  not  likely  to  improve 
him  in  these  respects.  To  crown  all,  his  election  to  the  Epis- 
copate was  carried  by  the  people  in  the  face  of  a decided  oppo- 
sition from  the  military  and  civil  authorities.  It  were  hard  to 
imagine  a more  trying  position  : an  age,  hopelessly  corrupt ; 
a city,  turbulent  beyond  all  others ; a Church,  powerful,  but 
still  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  old  feuds ; a magistracy  feeble 
at  the  best  for  the  maintenance  of  order,  but  now  jealous  of  the 
Bishop,  in  league  with  his  enemies,  exercising  authority  in  the 
spirit  of  a faction  rather  than  of  legitimate  and  acknowledged 
„ . rule.  Under  such  circumstances,  Cyril,  it  is  said,  en- 

0/ Civil  larged  the  sway  inherited  from  Theophilus y and  seri- 
ously encroached  upon  the  temporal  power.  This  may 
have  been  the  effect  of  ambition  on  his  part.  But  as  the  same 
thing  happened  at  the  same  period  with  many  other  prelates,  it 
seems  more  just  to  regard  it  as  a necessity  of  the  times.  When 
the  rod  of  the  magistrate  passes  into  priestly  hands,  it  is  gen- 
erally by  a process  of  at  least  three  steps.  First,  it  is  dropped 
by  the  hands  that  ought  to  hold  it ; then,  falling  upon  the 


9 Socrates,  our  only  authority  for  this  part  of  S.  Cyril’s  life,  evidently 
writes  under  a threefold  bias.  As  a Constantinopolitan  he  had  no  liking  for 
the  Alexandrian ; as  partial  to  the  Novatians,  he  was  unfriendly  to  a Bishop 
who  suppressed  that  sect ; as  a cold-blooded  man  of.  liberal  views,  he  felt  an 
antipathy  for  the  zealous  defender  of  the  Faith.  He  shows  his  bias  chiefly  in 
two  particulars.  Firsts  he  mentions  Cyril  only  in  matters  prejudicial  to  his 
fame  ; secondly,  he  omits  such  circumstances  as  might  explain  or  justify  Cyril’s 
conduct.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  I give  the  facts  as  Socrates  relates  them, 
merely  adding  here  and  there  what  he  omits.  Soc.  E.  H.  vii.  7,  13-15. 


Nestorius  and  S.  Cyril.  5 1 5 

ground,  it  becomes  a serpent ; finally,  it  is  seized  by  whatever 
hand  seems  at  the  time  most  capable.  Such,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  was  the  nature  of  Cyril’s  usurpations. 

On  his  accession  he  was  ambitious,  as  rulers  new  to  power 
are  apt  to  be,  to  pick  up  and  enforce  neglected  laws.  Edicts 
against  the  sects  were  precisely  of  that  character.  Most 
prelates  began  by  an  attempt  to  enforce  them,  few  were  Excesses, 
so  unwise  as  to  persist  in  the  effort.  Cyril,  like  the 
rest,  made  a vigorous  start  he  suppressed  the  worship  of  the 
Novatians,  seized  their  Church  property,  and  confiscated  the 
goods  of  their  Bishop  Theopemptus. 

He  next  comes  before  us  in  a bitter  contest  with  the  Jews 
of  Alexandria  and  with  Orestes  the  Prefect.  The  Jews,  it  ap- 
pears, infuriated  against  tlie  Christians  about  some  Quarrel 
quarrel  connected  with  the  mimes  or  dancers,  had  as- 
sembled  in  the  theatre  on  a certain  Sabbath ; and 
Orestes  had  met  them  there,  to  put  forth  a new  polity,  or  order, 
for^the  better  regulation  of  the  shows.  A few  Christians  looked 
in  to  learn  the  nature  of  the  order.  One  of  them,  Hierax,  a 
schoolmaster,  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  Bishop,  was  detected, 
seized  as  a spy,  dragged  before  the  Prefect,  and  in  compliance 
with  the  outcry  of  the  Jews,  was  forthwith  put  to  the  torture. 
From  a ruler  thus  indulgent  to  the  humors  of  a mob,  little  could 
be  hoped  for  in  the  way  of  justice : Cyril  contented  himself, 
therefore,  with  an  appeal  to  the  leading  men  of  the  hostile  sect, 
warning  them  of  the  danger  they  incurred,  if  they  went  on 
provoking  the  anger  of  the  Christians.  The  warning.  Massacre 
or  threat,  was  of  no  avail.  The  Jews,  confident  of  <>/ 

. . Ill  Christians. 

impunity,  added  plot  to  plot,  and  at  length  resorted  to  Expulsion 

. .of  the  Jews. 

an  attempt  of  the  most  atrocious  character.  Having 
agreed  that  each  should  wear  a ring  of  the  white  bark  of  a 
palm-branch  for  mutual  recognition,  they  posted  themselves  in 

Bingham  justly  censures  the  invidious  way  in  which  Socrates  tells  this 
story : viz.,  that  he  mentions  the  rigid  acts  of  Cyril  without  alluding  to  the 
law — an  edict  of  Arcadius  and  Honorius — under  which  he  acted.  Ch.  An- 
tiquit.  V.  iv.  II. 


5 1 6 History  of  the  Church. 

the  streets  at  the  dead  of  night,  raised  a cry  that  Alexander’s 
church  was  on  fire,  and  slew  the  Christians  one  by  one  as  they 
rushed  out  to  the  rescue.  The  carnage  continued  till  daybreak, 
when  the  Christians  rallied,  with  the  Bishop  at  their  head,  drove 
back  the  murderers,  took  their  synagogues  by  storm,  sacked 
their  quarters,  and  finally  succeeded  in  expelling  them  in  a 
body  from  the  city. 

Where  Orestes  was  during  this  mHee^  nowhere  appears.  We 
only  learn  that  he  was  grieved  at  the  loss  to  the  city  of  so  many 
Efforts  wealthy  Jews,  and  that  he  wrote  to  the  Emperor,  com- 
f or  Peace,  Christians.  Cyril  also  wrote,  com- 

plaining of  the  Jews.  In  the  meantime,  the  people  Avere  urgent 
for  a reconciliation  between  the  Prefect  and  the  Bishop.  So 
long  as  they  were  at  variance,  the  majority  of  the  citizens  were 
virtually  outlaws,  and  no  man  was  secure  of  life  or  limb.  Cyril 
was  not  slow  to  make  suitable  advances.  He  sent  messengers 
of  peace  to  the  irritated  governor;  and  when  these  were  ^re- 
jected, without  even  the  scant  courtesy  of  a hearing,  the  Bishop 
went  to  him  in  person,  holding  the  Gospels  out  before  him, 
as  an  olive-branch.  The  Prefect  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  him,  and  the  situation  of  the  Christians  became  more 
desperate. 

• Under  these  circumstances,  the  Nitrian  Monks,  men  whose 
burning  zeal  was  tempered  with  the  least  amount  possible  of 
Riot  of  the  practical  discretion,  saw  fit  to  interfere  in  behalf  of 
Monks,  their  spiritual  head.  Five  hundred  of  them  came  in 
from  the  desert,  and  meeting  Orestes  in  his  chariot,  surrounded 
by  his  guards,  expostulated  with  him  in  monkish  fashion.  It  is 
likely  that  he  was  not  more  civil  to  them  than  he  had  been  to 
the  Bishop : at  all  events,  they  soon  came  to  rough  words,  call- 
ing him  pagan,  idolater,  and  other  hard  names.  Thoroughly 
frightened,  the  Prefect  protested  that  he  was  a Christian.  The 
Nitrians  gave  little  heed  to  his  protestations ; and  one  of  them, 
named  Ammon ius,  threw  a stone  at  him  and  wounded  him  in 
the  head.  The  guards  take  to  flight,  as  seeips  to  have  been 
their  custom  in  cases  of  emergency : but  the  citizens  run  up, 


517 


Nestorius  and  S.  Cyril. 


called  a 
Martyr. 


the  monks  in  turn  are  routed,"  and  Ammonius  is  seized,  scourged 
and  tortured  till  death  comes  to  his  relief.  Having  made  sure 
of  him,  Orestes,  as  usual,  wrote  a letter  of  complaint  to  the 
Court.  Cyril  sent  in  a statement  for  the  opposite  side.  He 
even  went  so  far,  in  anger  at  the  Prefect  or  in  pity  of  ^ 

' ° . . Ammomus 

the  monk,  as  to  eulogize  Ammonius  in  a public  dis- 
course ; calling  him  Thaumasios,  the  Admirable,  and 
entering  his  name  upon  the  Roll  of  the  Martyrs.  For  this  he 
was  much  blamed  by  the  more  sober  sort ; and  the  Bishop  him- 
self, when  he  had  thought  better  of  it,  was  glad  to  let  the  matter 
be  buried  in  oblivion. 

So  far,  in  this  eventful  story,  there  seems  to  be  a strange 
reversal  of  the  ordinary  relations  of  human  society  : the  priest 
changes  characters  with  the  prefect,  the  monk  with  the  strange 
soldier,  the  sheep  with  the  shepherd  : as  the  drama 
draws  to  a close,  a new  phenomenon  appears,  in  the  shape  of  a 
fair  young  woman,  who  with  marvellous  dignity  and  propriety 
assumes  and  sustains  the  part  commonly  appropriate  to  wrinkled 
men. 

Hypatia,  the  famous  daughter  of  Cleon  the  mathematician, 
a virgin, a beauty,  a scholar,  a sage,  a political  oracle,  an  ac- 
complished lecturer,  was  the  acknowledged  head  in 
Alexandria  of  that  school  of  philosophy  which  was  the 
pride  o^aganism  and  the  most  formidable  antagonist  of  Chris- 
tianity. She  was  the  flower  of  the  tree  which  Plotinus  had 
planted  and  Porphyrins  watered.  As  such  she  could  not  but 
be  unpopular  with  the  mass  of  Christians.  She  was  extremely 


Hypatia. 


The  terrific  character  which  grandiloquent  writers  have  given  these 
monks  seems  to  have  been  appreciated  only  by  Orestes  and  the  guards  : citi- 
zens were  not  so  much  afraid  pf  them. 

*2  It  is  so  much  the  custom  to  mention  only  the  praises  of  Hypatia,  that  I 
almost  shrink  from  putting  in  a word  of  qualification.  It  is  due  to  truth,  how- 
ever, to  remark  that  the  facts  of  her  story,  as  related  by  Damascius  {apud 
Suidam),  reveal  a woman  who  could  unsex  herself  in  a most  revolting  man- 
ner. Modern  delicacy,  therefore — e.  g.y  the  Biographie  Universelle — is  con- 
tent to  eulogize  her  for  repelling  too  ardent  lovers  ; to  say  how  she  did  it  is 
tolerable  only  in  Greek. 


5 1 8 History  of  the  Church. 

intimate,  moreover,  with  the  Prefect  Orestes.  As  such  she  was 
Suspicions  vehemently  suspected,  perhaps  unjustly,  of  fomenting 
against  her.  petulant  and  sulky  mood  which  had  kept  the  city 
so  long  in  a fever  of  excitement.  In  a morbid  condition  of  the 
public  mind,  suspicion  is  more  irritating  than  proven  guilt. 
The  feeling  against  Hypatia  soon  fretted  into  a frenzy.  A 
number  of  fanatics,  perhaps  the  Parabolani,^^  those  desperadoes 
of  charity  in  the  early  Church,  men  who  devoted  themselves  to 
familiarity  with  suffering  in  its  ghastliest  forms,  felt  a call  to 
remove  the  fair  obstacle  to  peace  and  unity.  Headed  by  one 
Her  Cruel  Peter,  a Reader,  they  met  Hypatia  in  the  street,  tore 
her  from  her  carriage,  dragged  her  to  a church  hard 
by,  stripped  her,  cut  up  her  body  with  sharp  shells,  and  finally 
burnt  her  mangled  limbs  in  a place  called  Cinaron.  The  fiend- 
ish act  brought  no  little  reproach  upon  the  Church  and  upon 
the  Bishop.  Even  the  Court  was  moved  by  it  to  adopt  some 
measures  for  the  public  security  : as  the  rankness  of  the  Para- 
bolani  manifetly  required  weeding,  their  order  was  reduced  by 
a special  edict  to  the  number  of  five  hundred. 

There  is  no  proof  whatever  that  the  Bishop  was  responsible,*^ 
by  word  or  deed,  for  the  fate  of  Hypatia : still  the  catastrophe 
^ was  a lesson  that  a wise  man,  in  his  position,  would 

Fourteen  ^ 

Years  of  lay  to  heart.  How  Cyril  took  it  we  have  no  means  of 
knowing.  We  find,  however,  that  the  next  ten  years 
of  his  life  were  comparatively  quiet.  It  is  also  on  record,  that 
during  this  time  he  abandoned  one  strong  prejudice  inherited 
from  his  uncle,  and  allowed  the  name  of  S.  Chrysostom  to  be 

*3  The  name  is  synonymous  with  Parabolarii — desperadoes — a name  of 
reproach  given  to  the  Christians  on  account  of  their  eagerness  for  martyrdom. 
Bingham’s  Antiquities ^ III.  ix.  i.  The  Parabolani  probably  date  from  the 
great  plague,  A.D.  263,  in  that  enthusiastic  care  for  the  dead  and  dying  which 
is  described  by  Dionysius,  ap.  Euseb.  vii.  22.  Like  all  societies  which  orig- 
inate in  a particular  necessity,  they  degenerated  when  the  necessity  had  passed 
away,  and  became  a dangerous,  though  still  useful,  faction.  See  Tillemont, 
S.  Cyrille^  art.  iv. 

Damascius,  however,  charges  him  with  jealousy  of  Hypatia’s  popu- 
larity as  a lecturer.  Suidae  Lexicon. 


Nestorius  and  S.  Cyril.  5 1 9 

inserted  in  the  diptychs.  This  was  done,  to  be  sure,  on  the 
urgent  remonstrances  of  the  other  Bishops  : but  in  cases  of  this 
kind,  involving  the  surrender  of  a cherished  feeling,  it  shows 
greater  humility  to  yield  to  one^s  peers  than  to  act  upon  the 
dictates  of  private  reason. 

Such,  then,  was  the  man  who  came  forward,  or  was  put  for- 
ward, rather,  by  his  eminent  position  in  the  Hierarchy,  as  the 
champion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  He  character 
was  a man  of  strong  will,  precipitate,  zealous,  not  un- 
like  Nestorius  in  the  more  obvious  traits  of  his  character.  In 
one  point,  however,  there  seems  to  have  been  a difference  of  the 
first  importance.  Cyril,  though  impetuous  by  nature,  was  not 
incapable  of  second  and  better  thoughts.  He  could  learn  from 
experience,  he  was  patient  of  rebuke.  S.  Isidore  of  Isidore^ 
Pelusium,  his  austere  monitor,  rebuked  his  ‘‘pride” 
in  the  matter  of  S.  Chrysostom,  with  a plainness  of  speech 
which  would  have  set  most  men  frantic.  Afterwards,  again,  in 
,the  Nestorian  quarrel,  he  smote  him  sharply  on  the  one  cheek 
for  his  excess  of  zeal,  and  still  more  sharply  on  the  other  for  his 
moderation. The  grace  to  take  such  reproofs  and  profit  by 
them,  is  often  that  which  makes  the  difference  between  the 
heretic  and  the  saint,  between  Cyril  and  Nestorius.  As  a theo- 
logian, Cyril  won  a high  place  in  general  esteem.  More  than 
any  other  man  of  his  day,  he  seized  instinctively,  and  inflexibly 
maintained,  that  narrow  middle  way  which  is  the  path  of  safety. 
How  far  he  merited  the  name  of  Saint,  which  the  Church  East 
and  West  has  accorded  to  him,  we  at  the  present  day  have  slen- 
der means  of  judging ; for  we  know  nothing  of  the  tenor  of 
his  daily  life  : history  reveals  him  to  us  only  as  he  appeared 
amid  scenes  of  strife — scenes  in  which,  so  far  as  appearances 
go,  the  best  men  often  seem  to  differ  little  from  the  worst. 

The  Nestorian  controversy,  it  has  been  mentioned,  had  en- 
kindled the  zeal  of  the  monks  in  Egypt : to  them  the  first  Letter 

*5  It  is  unfair,  in  modern  writers,  to  cite  these  rebukes  as  evidence  against 
S.  Cyril.  Holy  men  are  thrifty  of  their  censures  : they  bestow  them,  not  where 
they  are  most  deserved,  but  where  they  are  most  likely  to  be  heeded. 


520  History  of  the  Church. 

of  Cyril  was  addressed.  An  answer  to  it  came  from  a friend  of 
Cyril  and  Nestorius  ill  Constantinople.  Efforts  being  made,  the 
meanwhile,  to  prejudice  the  Emperor  against  Cyril, 
A.D.  429.  numerous  inquiries  coming  to  the  latter  from 

Celestine  of  Rome  and  other  prominent  Bishops,  with  not  a 
few  complaints  of  his  inertness,  he  at  length  addressed  a sharp 
letter  to  Nestorius  himself,  and  received  a brief  and  cool  and 
contemptuous  reply. 

To  Celestine  Nestorius  wrote  somewhat  more  at  length,  put- 
ting the  best  face  upon  his  new  opinions.*^  The  letter  came 
under  the  eye  of  the  famous  Leo,  then  Archdeacon, 

Nestorius 

and  ^ afterwards  known  as  Leo  the  Great,  and  by  his  advice 
was  handed  over  to  Cassian,  to  be  translated  into  Latin 
and  refuted.  The  result  was  an  able  tract,  which  appeared  not 
long  after,  on  the  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation. 

A second  letter  from  Cyril  to  Nestorius  elicited  a reply,  in 
which  the  Union  of  the  two  Natures  in  One  Person  might  seem  to 
Lett  rs  to  have  been  almost  admitted : there  was  no  retractation, 
^churThf  however,  and  terms  were  shuffled  in  a way  which  left 
A.b.  430.  room  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  the  author’s  meaning. 
Nestorius  also  wrote  once  more  to  Rome.  As  usual  in  such  ques- 
tions, innumerable  epistles  were  passing  to  and  fro,  in  every  di- 
rection. Finally,  Cyril,  having  held  the  meanwhile  a Council  at 
Alexandria,  sent  a special  messenger  to  Celestine,  with  a decla- 
ration of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Council,  and  a careful  state- 
ment of  the  heads  of  heresy  supposed  to  be  held  by  Nestorius. 

A Council  met  at  Rome,  with  these  documents  before  it, 
and  with  elaborate  memorials  from  other  quarters.  Nestorius 


For  the  order  of  events  and  the  dates — which  in  this  controversy  are 
of  great  importance — I refer  the  reader  to  Neale’s  Holy  Eastern  Church,  Book 
I.  sect.  i.  Milman,  in  his  anxiety  to  convict  Cyril  of  prejudichig  the  mind 
of  Celestine  against  Nestorius,  is  forced  to  admit  that  Nestorius  wrote  first, 
but  thinks  Cyril  to  have  been  virtually  beforehand  with  him,  from  his  having 
written  in  Latin  : he  forgets  that  the  Letter  of  Nestorius  was  condemned  as 
soon  as  received  ; that  it  was  given  to  Cassian  to  be  refuted  as  well  as  trans- 
lated. Lat.  Christianity y vol.  i. 


Neslorius  and  S.  Cyril.  521 

was  condemned.  To  Cyril  it  was  entrusted  to  carry  out  the 
sentence,  and  after  due  warning,  with  sufficient  time  coundi 
allowed  for  retractation,  to  take  the  necessary  steps  for 
making  it  final.  That  nothing  might  be  done  imma- 
turely,  letters  were  sent  at  the  same  time  to  Nestorius,  John  of 
Antioch,  Juvenal  of  Jerusalem,  and  other  leading  Bishops. 

John  of  Antioch  was  a personal  friend  of  Nestorius  ; and  he 
acted  the  part  of  a friend,  by  urging  him"^  affection-  jokno/ 
ately  to  bend  to  the  storm,  and  to  spare  the  Church 
the  scandal  of  a needless  schism.  I have  ‘‘always  thought,’’ 
he  said,  “that  your  meaning  dLCCordtd  with  that  of  the  Fathers 
and  Church  Doctors.  If  so,  why  scruple  at  a word  ? 

Why  expose  yourself  to  the  charge  of  a childish  con-  fetter  to 
tentiousness,  by  battling  against  a term  which  can  be 
used  in  a good  sense,  and  which  has  been  so  used,  or  at  least  has 
been  allowed,  by  all  sound  teachers  ? It  is  no  shame  to  yield  in 
a matter  of  this  kind.  Many  have  so  yielded  for  the  peace  of 
the  Church.  You  and  I remember  how  it  was  with  our  blessed 
master  Theodorus  (of  Mopsuestia)  : how  he  broached  first  to 
you,  who  had  his  confidence  at  that  time,  and  afterwards  to 
others,  a disquieting  opinion  ; how  he  repented  of  it  when  he 
saw  that  it  engendered  strife ; how  openly  he  recanted  for  the 
Church’s  sake  ; how,  in  consequence  of  this,  he  stood  in  higher 
credit  than  before.”  So,  in  substance,  John  wrote:  a letter 
‘creditable  to  the  good  sense  and  kind  feeling  of  the  writer. 
The  answer  of  Nestorius  showed  a heart  full  of  the  Answer  of 
worst  heresy : the  pride  of  a morbid  orthodoxy,  the 
bigotry  of  self-confidence  which  delighted  to  be  attacked,  the 
determination  at  all  hazards  to  brand  his  brethren  with  an  ab- 
surdity— that  the  “ Deity  originated  from  the  Virgin” — which 
no  sane  man  could\iQ\^^  and  which  everyone  disavowed.  “Of 
all  men,”  says  he,  “I  thought  myself  the  last  to  be  charged 
with  any  departure  from  right  belief : known,  as  I am,  to  be  the 
foe  of  heresy,  and  to  take  pleasure  in  the  thousands  of  assaults 


*7  Hardouin.  i,  pp.  1327-1334. 


522 


History  of  the  Church. 


to  which  my  zeal  for  sound  doctrine  has  continually  exposed 
me.’'  He  protested,  however,  that  he  had  no  objection  to  the 
word  Theotokos^  rightly  understood.  In  fact,  he  seemed  ready 
to  sacrifice  everything,  except  his  pride  : but  he  declared  him- 
self confident  that,  if  a General  Council  were  granted  him,  the 
whole  matter  could  be  settled  to  universal  satisfaction.  He 
relied,  it  is  probable,  on  the  influence  of  the  Court. 

Cyril  executed  his  task  with  due  deliberation.  More  than 
two  months  elapsed  before  he  prepared,  with  the  help  of  a 
Synod  at  Alexandria,  the  test  of  orthodoxy  which 
Twelve  Ncstorius  was  to  sign.  It  was  in  the  shape  of  twelve 

A nathemas.  . , i • • r i • 

Novfmber,  Anathemas,*^  denying  in  as  many  forms  the  existence 
A D*  of  two  Persons  or  Hypostases  in  Christ,  and  affirming 

the  Union  of  the  two  Natures  to  be  real  in  such  a sense,  that 
the  Flesh  assumed  by  the  Word  is  truly  His  Flesh,  not  that  of 
another  person  joined  on  to  Him.  This  is  known  as  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Hypostatic  Union. 

Nestorius  responded  by  twelve  counter  Anathemas,  aimed 
partly  at  a supposed  confusion  of  the  two  Natures^  as  when  Em- 
manuel is  called  God  the  Word,  or  when  Mary  is  called 

Twelve  , ^ 

Theotokos  ; partly  at  a supposed  physical  change  of  the 
' Divine  Substance  into  Fleshp  as  when  it  is  said  “ The 
Word  was  made  Flesh”;  partly,  against  direct  adoration  of 
Christ  as  God,  Nestorius  allowing  only  a relative  worship  to 
^^the  servant  form,”  on  account  of  ‘‘its  connection  with  the 
Nature  of  the  Only-Begotten.” 

The  word  anathema,  like  the  word  damn,  has  been  so  much  taken  in 
vain,  that  the  English  reader  is  apt  to  attribute  to  it  a harsher  meaning  than 
properly  belongs  to  it.  It  means  properly  a thing  laid  up,  or  reserved,  for  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God.  The  Church,  properly  speaking,  judges  no  man: 
she  anathematizes,  i.  e.,  leaves  certain  things  or  certain  men  to  God’s  judg- 
ment. 

*9  The  transiibstantiation  of  the  Divine  Substance  into  Flesh,  or  of  the 
Flesh  into  the  Divine  Substance,  was  of  course  denied  by  the  Catholics,  who 
referred  to  the  analogy  of  the  Eucharist  as  an  illustration  of  the  truth  they 
maintained  : as  in  that  sacrament  the  bread  becomes  the  Body,  without  chang- 
ing its  substance  or  nature,  so,  etc.  See  Pearson,  On  the  Creed,  Art  iii. 


Council  of  Ephesus. 


523 


CHAPTER  11. 

* 

COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS. — SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY. 

With  the  consent  of  all  parties,  the  Emperor  called  a Gen- 
eral Council,  to  meet  at  Ephesus  on  the  ensuing  ^caiul. 
Pentecost. 

The  Council  assembled.  Nestorius  was  first  on  the  ground 
with  a numerous  body  of  friends.  Cyril  came  not  long  after 
with  a train  of  about  fifty  Egyptian  Bishops.  Juve-  Ephesus 
nal  of  Jerusalem  arrived  a few  days  later  than  the  June, 

A.D.  431. 

time  appointed.  John  of  Antioch  was  latest  of  all, 

but  as  he  sent  an  excuse  for  his  tardiness,  the  Council  waited 

for  him  fifteen  days. 

The  interval  was  spent  in  conferences,  discussions,  negotia- 
tions, intrigues.  The  season  was  hot  and  dry ; and  one  or  two 
Bishops  died  from  fevers  engendered  by  the  heat.  The  Debates  in 
debates  were  not  more  temperate  than  the  weather. 

• Cyril,  it  is  said,  skirmished  with  the  enemy,  harassing  him  by 
powerful  reasoning  and  vigorous  abuse.  Memnon  of  Ephesus 
was  even  more  active  on  the  same  side.  On  the  other  hand, 
Nestorius  exasperated  the  strong  feeling  against  himself,  by 
frivolous  and  irreverent  off-hand  speeches : he  would  not  wor- 
ship, he  declared,  a God  two  months  old. 

Under  such  circumstances  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  delay, 
nothing  by  discussion.  The  Bishops  had  already  waited  fifteen 
days,  some  of  them  longer,  but  John  of  Antioch  still 

- . Count  il 

failed  to  make  his  appearance.  Many  suspected  that  opened  : 

he  intended  to  wear  out  the  Council  by  delay.  Cyril 

and  the  majority  were  in  favor  of  proceeding  to  business  at  once. 


524  History  of  the  Church. 

9 

Nestorius  and  his  friends  protested.*  So  did  Candidianus,  the 
Imperial  Commissioner.  Sixty-eight  of  the  prelates  were  in- 
duced to  sign  the  protest.  In  spite  of  all  this,  the  majority 
persisted,  and  the  Council  was  formally  opened  with  an  attend- 
ance of  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  Bishops. 

Nestorius  was  thrice  summoned,  and  thrice  refused  to  appear. 
The  Creed  of  Nicsea  was  read  : then  letters  of  Cyril,  Nestorius, 
Nestorius  Celestiue,  followed  by  remarks  and  acclamations  of 
Condemned,  agreement  or  dissent.  Next  came  testimony  to  the 
effect  that  Nestorius  had  not  retracted  his  error,  but,  by  his 
profane  speech  about  a God  of  two  months  old,  had  rather 
confirmed  it.  Extracts  from  the  Fathers  were  read,  and  ex- 
tracts from  the  writings  of  Nestorius.  Finally,  sentence  of 
deposition  and  excommunication  was  pronounced,  and  signed 
by  the  Bishops  present.  Other  signatures  were  afterwards  added, 
making  the  number  in  all  about  two  hundred. 

Such  was  the  action  of  the  first  day’s  session  of  the  Council. 
Five  days  later,  John  of  Antioch  arrived  and  opened  a separate 
Rival  Synod  of  the  friends  of  Nestorius.  A wretched  time 
Councils,  fallowed : Council  against  Council,  sentence  against 
sentence,  protest  against  protest.  John  and  his  party,  on  the 
one  side,  Cyril  and  Memnon  on  the  other,  were  mutually  de- 
posed. The  majority,  however,  were  confirmed  in  the  course 
they  had  taken  by  the  arrival  of  Legates  from  Rome,  who,  hav- 
ing heard  the  Acts  of  the  first  session  read,  assented  to  them 
and  subscribed  the  deposition  of  Nestorius. 

The  Court  interfered  : at  first  by  a commissioner  who,  after 
a vain  endeavor  to  bring  the  parties  to  terms,  read  a letter  from 
The  Court  the  Emperor  approving  the  deposition  of  Nestorius, 
interferes,  ^nd  Memnou ; afterwards,  these  three  being  the 

meanwhile  arrested,  by  summoning  a deputation  of  eight  from 
each  Council,  to  meet  the  Emperor  at  Chalcedon. 

The  result  took  every  one  by  surprise.  Cyril  hitherto  had 

* The  haste  of  Cyril  has  been  much  censured  : I doubt,  however,  whether 
any  deliberative  body  could  be  induced  to  wait  more  than  fifteen  days,  in  hot 
weather,  on  the  convenience  of  a dilatory  and  perhaps  hostile  member. 


525 


Council  of  Ephesus. 

been  under  the  ban  of  the  Court.  Nestorius,  on  the  contrary, 
had  been  high  in  favor.  When  the  final  decision  came,  all  this 
was  reversed  : whether  it  was  that  the  facts  of  the  case  The  Depo- 
proved  irresistible,  or,  as  some  alleged,  that  Alexan-  Nlltltius 
drian  gold  proved  superior  to  the  gold  of  Constant!- 
nople,  Theodosius  confirmed  the  decree  of  the  first  session  of 
the  Council ; Nestorius  was  left  to  his  fate ; Maximian  was 
elected  Bishop  in  his  stead ; and  Cyril  returned  to  his  see  in 
triumph. 

Much  soreness*remained  among  the  Bishops  of  the  defeated 
party.  But  in  the  course  of  the  next  year,  John  of  Antioch  and 
Cyril  were  reconciled  : the  latter  declaring  the  Divine  cyriiand 
Word  to  be  Impassible — a point  on  which  his  orthodoxy  recotuiud, 
had  been  called  in  question  ; and  the  former  signing  a 
Confession  that  “ Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  Son  of  God : 
perfect  God,  and  perfect  Man  of  a reasonable  soul  and  of  flesh 
subsisting : according  to  His  Divinity,  begotten  of  the  Father 
before  the  world  ; according  to  His  Humanity,  born  in  these 
last  days,  for  our  Salvation,  of  the  Virgin  Mary : consubstantial 
with  the  Father,  according  to  His  Godhead,  and  consubstantial 
with  us,  according  to  His  Manhood  : and  in  that  the  two  Natures 
have  been  united,  we  acknowledge  one  Lord,  one  Christ,  one 
Son.  Wherefore  we  confess  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  the 
Mother  of  God : because  the  Word  of  God  was  incarnate  and 
was  made  man.^* 

Among  those  who  had  sided  with  Nestorius  from  a mis- 
apprehension of  the  views  of  the  opposite  side,  Theodoret  of 
Cyrus,  who  holds  a high  place  among  the  Church  Extreme 
Historians,  was  one  of  the  most  learned  and  saintly 
in  life  : he  was  also  one  of  the  last  to  forsake  his  error.  There 
were  others  who  really  inclined  to  the  heresy  imputed  to  Cyril. 
These  were  scandalized  by  his  moderation  in  his  dealings  with 
John  of  Antioch,  and  by  his  assertion  of  the  two  perfect  Na- 
tures in  Christ.  S.  Isidore  of  Pelusium  was  among  those  who 
blamed  him  for  yielding  too  much. 

The  fate  of  Nestorius  was  extremely  sad.  Banished  first  to 


526  History  of  the  Church. 

a monastery,  thence  to  Petra,  and  thence  to  the  great  Oasis ; 
End  of  driven  from  this  last  shelter  by  the  inroads  of  barbar- 
Nestorius.  tribes  ; destitute,  afflicted  and  burdened  with  age, 
he  wrote  a piteous  letter  to  the  Court  : but  receiving  no  answer 
beyond  a sentence  of  remoter  exile,  he  finally  perished,  it  is 
said,  of  a painful  and  loathsome  disease.  The  tongue  which 
had  offended,  or,  as  some  say,  his  whole  body,  was  eaten  up  of 
worms. 

Very  different  from  all  this  was  the  fortune  that  attended  his 
name  and  doctrine.  As  if  to  verify  his  proud  promise  of  help- 
spreadof  couquer  the  Persians,  his  system,  when  banished 

Nes^o  ian  from  the  Empire,  was  hospitably  received  into  the 
rival  Kingdom,  and  established  itself  there  with  splen- 
did success  as  the  dominant  form  of  religion.*  The  famous 
school  of  Edessa  was  the  fountain-head  of  the  error.  There 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  and  Diodorus  of  Tarsus  were  held  in 
honor.  There  the  flower  of  the  Persian  youth  were  instructed 
in  the  elements  of  Christian  learning.  Thence,  through  the 
violent  zeal  of  the  Catholic  Bishops  of  the  place,  a host  of 
ardent  alumni,  driven  from  the  school,  poured  into  the  Eastern 
world  and  diffused  everywhere  their  rationalistic  tenets.  Ibas, 
Persia,  how  One  of  their  number,  wrote  a celebrated  letter  to 
gamed.  Maris  the  Persian,  in  which  the  impression  was  con- 
veyed that  Nestorius  had  been  condemned  without  a hearing, 
and  that  Cyril  and  his  friends  were  Apollinarians.  The  cal- 
umny spread,  and  effectually  poisoned  the  mind  of  the  East. 
About  the  same  time,  Barsumas  of  Nisibis,  another  disciple  of 
the  Edessan  school,  persuaded  the  Persian  king  that  the  Catho- 
lics in  his  dominions  were  but  Roman  spies,  and  that  he  could 
never  be  sure  of  the  loyalty  of  his  subjects,  so  long  as  they  were 
one  in  faith  with  the  Greeks.  By  arts  of  this  kind,  Nestorian- 
ism  gained  a firm  hold  in  Persia. 

From  Persia  it  spread,  through  all  the  intricate  channels  of 
Oriental  commerce,  into  Arabia  towards  the  south,  back  into 

2 For  the  rest  of  this  chapter  see  Asseman.  Bibliothec,  Oriental,  tom. 
iii.  Gibbon  (chap,  xlvii.)  gives  a good  summary  of  Nestorian  history. 


Syrian  Christianity.  5.2  7 

Mesopotamia  and  Syria  whence  it  came,  northward  and  east- 
ward through  many  intervening  tribes  into  Tartary,  Syrian 
China,  India : so  that  there  jvas  a time  when  a sepa-  Church. 
rate  Christendom  flourished,  Syrian,  Chaldsean,  Oriental,  tinged 
more  or  less  with  Nestorian  views,  which  rivalled  in  numbers^ 
and  extent  of  territory  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches  taken 
together. 

But  this  great  body  held  the  name  Nestorian  only  as  a term 
of  reproach.  The  parent,  they  contended,  ought  not  to  take 
the  name  of  the  child  : Nestorius  might  be  called  a how  far 
Syrian,  but  not  the  Syrians  Nestorians.^  They  ab- 
horred,  however,  the  memory  of  ‘^the  Egyptian they  re- 
jected the  Council  of  Ephesus.  On  the  other  hand,  most  of 
them  honored  the  names  of  Nestorius,  Theodorus,  and  Diodo- 
rus. For  the  rest,  their  religion  may  be  described  as  a cautious 
and  captious^  Catholicism.  They  professed  to  hold  ‘^without 
variation  what  they  had  received  from  Apostolic  times.”  In 
doctrine,  they  were  averse  to  new  definitions ; in  morals,  they 
avoided  enthusiasm.  Developments,  whether  good  peculiar 
or  bad,  found  little  favor  among  them.  Their  Clergy,  rtews. 
except  the  highe'st  order,  were  allowed  to  marry  as  often  as  they 
pleased.  The  same  liberty  was  accorded  to  monks  and  nuns. 
Scripture  they  preferred  in  the  grammatical  sense  : the  versions 
in  use  among  them  have  proved,  in  most  of  the  disputed  texts,^ 
more  correct  than  those  which  orthodox  writers  have  cited 
against  them.  On  the  whole,  while  their  separation  from  the 
rest  of  Christendom  had  the  effect  of  dwarfing  their  theology, 

3 Thomassin.  Vet.  et  Nov.  Eccles.  Disciplin.  pars  i.  liber  i.  cap.  xxiv.  vii. 

4 « Why,”  they  asked,  “ should  they  be  called  after  a Greek  whom  they 
had  never  seen,  and  who  knew  not  a word  of  their  language  ?”  See  Asse- 
man.  Bib.  Oi'ient.  tom.  iii.  pars  ii.  vii.  5. 

5 Thus  their  principal  objection  to  the  Theotokos  was,  that  Theos  is  the 
name  oi  the  Trinity  rather  than  of  any  one  Person  of  the  Trinity.  They  were 
unwilling  to  use  terms  in  the  same  sense  with  other  Catholics.  Asseman. 
tom.  iii  vii.  6. 

^ Asseman.  tom.  iii.  pars  ii.  vii.  7. 


528  History  of  the  Church. 

so  that  they  failed  to  express,  and  perhaps  to  grasp,  the  great 
Truth  of  the  Incarnation,  yet  on  the  other  hand,  they  avoided 
many  of  the  superstitions,  abuses,  and  corruptions  which  the 
livelier  fancy  of  the  Greeks  and  the  sensuous  spirit  of  the 
Latins  readily  admitted. 

We  have  thus  the  remarkable  spectacle  of  a mighty  Church, 
a full  third  of  the  Household  of  Faith,  which  became  an  arrested 
.4 growth,  as  it  were — a stereotype,  a witness  holden  un- 
Growth.  — Qf  religion  of  the  first  four  centuries. 

Like  S.  Thomas,  its  great  Apostle,^  Syrian  Christianity  believed 
up  to  a certain  point,  but  then  halted,  not  so  much  in  unbelief 
as  in  a rational  perplexity.  The  Nestorian  quarrel  was  the  occa- 
sion, not  the  cause  of  this.  The  cause  perhaps  lies  in  the  simple 
fact  that  what  may  be  called  the  vernacular  Christianity  of  the 
East,  growing  up  in  the  shade  of  that  brilliant  Greek  exotic 
which  appears  almost  alone  in  early  history,  had  taken  root  far 
and  wide,  with  a language,  tradition,  and  peculiar  temper  of  its 
own ; so  that  a separation  long  going  on,  and  at  some  time 
inevitable,  was  precipitated  by  the  misunderstandings  of  the 
Nestorian  conflict. 

^ Something  of  the  same  sort  had  appeared  before  in  the  his- 
tory of  Judaic  Christianity.  We  shall  see  a similar  spectacle 
Principle  again  in  the  great  Monophysite  schisms,  and  later  still, 
involved,  gradual  estrangement  of  the  Greeks  and  Latins. 

In  the  progress  of  the  Church,  whether  towards  good  or  evil, 
there  is  not  always  that  charity  for  the  slow  and  feeble  of  the 
company,  which  induced  Jacob®  to  ‘Gead  on  softly,**  instead 
of  attempting  to  keep  pace  with  the  swifter  march  of  his 
brother.  The  tendency  to  ‘‘overdrive,**  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  lag  unduly  on  the  other,  has  proved  in  all  ages  a chief  pro- 
vocative of  schism. 

7 A very  respectable  tradition  makes  S.  Thomas  the  Apostle  of  the  Syri- 
ans, Chaldoeans,  Parthians,  Persians,  Medes,  and  East  Indians.  For  this,  and 
for  an  account  of  the  Christians  of  S.  Thomas  in  India,  see  Asseman.  Bib, 
Orient,  tom.  iii. 

^ Gen.  xxxiii.  13,  14. 


Eutyckes. 


529 


CHAPTER  III. 

EUTYCHES  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON. 

The  Council  of  Ephesus  failed  to  satisfy  either  of  the  extreme 
parties  in  the  question  of  the  Incarnation  : and  even  some  who 
held  a middle  ground  were  not  altogether  content  with 

. . , . . . Dioscorus 

its  decisions.  Cyril  tried  in  vain  to  crown  his  previous 

. , ^ • i-  rr^i  1 Theodoret. 

efforts  by  procuring  the  condemnation  of  Theodorus 
of  Mopsuestia.  A fiercer  war  was  waged  between  Theodoret  of 
Cyrus  and  Dioscorus  of  Alexandria,  the  successor  of  S.  Cyril : 
a leaning  towards  Nestorius,  on  the  one  side,  and  towards  Apol- 
linaris,  on  the  other,  being  the  alleged  ground  of  dispute. 

Eutyches,  an  aged  and  venerated  Abbot  of  a monastery  near 
Constantinople,  was  strongly  suspected  of  the  latter 

1 /-  11  1 • 1 1 Eutyches, 

error  and  was  formally  accused  of  it  by  the  same 
Eusebius  of  Dorylaeum  who  had  been  so  forward  in  exposing 
the  pravity  of  Nestorius. 

For  seventy  years  the  old  man  had  lived  in  his  monastery  as 
in  a tomb  ; never  venturing  out,  except  in  one  instance  when  he 
went  to  bear  witness  against  the  heresy  of  Nestorius. 

° ^ Council 

At  length,  however,  he  is  forced  from  his  retreat.  atc.p.. 
Summoned  before  a Synod  at  Constantinople,  he  is 
questioned  and  cross-questioned : he  resorts  in  vain  to  excuses, 
quibbles,  evasions  ; seems  to  admit,  and  seems  equally  to  deny, 
the  charges  brought  against  him  : but  amid  all  his  obscurities 
and  contradictions,  maintains  with  obstinate  conviction,  that 
there  are  not  two  Natures  in  Christ  after  the  Incarnation^  but  one 
Nature  incarnate. 


23 


* Evagrii,  H.  E.  i.  9. 


530 


History  of  the  Church. 

What  he  meant  by  this  is  not  very  clear.  He  may  have  sup- 
posed, with  Apollinaris,  that  the  Divine  Word  assumed  only  two 
of  the  three  elements  of  our  nature  : or,  with  the 
forms  of  Docetse,  that  His  Body  was  phantasmal ; or,  with  the 

the  Heresy.  ’ . , / ’ 

Monophysites,  that  the  two  Natures  were  so  wrought 
together,  like  the  soul  and  body  of  man,  as  to  make  up  one 
compound  Nature.  The  extreme  followers  of  Eutyches  after- 
wards held  the  second  of  these  errors.  As  to  Eutyches  him- 
self, the  Council  forced  him  to  acknowledge  that  our  Lord  is 
of  one  substance  with  us,  according  to  His  flesh;  but  when 
called  on  to  anathematize  the  opposite  opinion,  he  stubbornly 
refused. 

The  Synod  condemned  him  : the  old  man  protesting,  how- 
ever, amid  much  confusion,  that  he  held  the  Faith  of  Nicsea 
Eutyches  ^nd  Ephesus  \ that  he  subscribed  to  the  doctrine  of 
condemned,  Athanasius ; and  that  he  was  willing  to 

abide  by  the  judgment  of  Rome  and  Alexandria. 

Flavianus,  then  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  had  endeav- 
ored at  first  to  abate  the  ardor  of  his  colleagues,  but  at  last  felt 
obliged  to  concur  in  their  decision.  The  Emperor 

A new  ^ 

Trial  Theodosius  was  not  so  easily  convinced.  To  him  the 
whole  affair  looked  like  a plot  of  the  Nestorianizing 
party.  So  it  seemed  also  to  Dioscorus  of  Alexandria.  As 
Eutyches  had  been  a staunch  friend  of  S.  Cyril,  it  was  natural 
enough  to  suspect  the  motives  of  those  who  had  condemned 
him.  A new  Council  therefore  was  called  by  the  Emperor,  to 
meet  at  Ephesus,  and  Flavianus  and  his  colleagues  were  put  on 
trial. 

Dioscorus,  the  leader  of  the  Synod,  had  inherited  the  fiery 
zeal  of  his  great  predecessors,  without  their  laborious  and  self- 
denying  love  of  the  Truth.*  He  had  won  the  Episco- 

Character  ^ 

of  Diosco-  pate  by  an  extraordinary  show  of  sanctity  and  humility. 

t"US»  * 

But  he  soon  laid  himself  open  to  charges  of  a grasping 
and  tyrannical  spirit.  He  ill-treated  the  Clergy.  Under  the 


Tillemont,  tom.  xv. ; S.  Leon,  art.  ix ; Neale’s  H.  E.  Ch.  Book  II.  sect.  iv. 


The  Latrocinium. 


531 


His 

Colleagues. 


Robber 

Council^ 

A.D.  449. 


pretext  of  charity,  he  confiscated  into  the  Church  treasury  the 
property  of  S.  Cyril,  thereby  defrauding  his  heirs.  What  was 
still  more  scandalous,  his  palace  was  frequented  by  mimes  or 
dancers ; and  the  courtesan  Irene  was  notoriously  kept  as  his 
concubine.  Finally,  he  was  possessed,  to  an  extraordinary 
degree,  with  the  Alexandrian  jealousy  of  Constantinople. 

With  this  Dioscorus,  Juvenal  of  Jerusalem  and  Thalassius 
of  Csesarea  shared  the  responsibility  of  the  Council, 
being  named  in  the  Emperor’s  letter  as  his  co-assess- 
ors. There  were  present  also  about  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  Bishops. 

From  the  disorderly  character  of  its  proceedings,  the  assem- 
bly was  branded  in  later  times  with  the  title  Latrocinium,  or 
Robber  Council.  We  have  its  Acts  only  as  subse- 
quently related  at  Chalcedon  by  prelates  who,  on 
their  own  showing,  had  been  bullied  into  a shameful 
compliance,  and  whose  interest  it  was  to  make  Dioscorus  the 
scapegoat  of  their  own  shortcomings.  Such  witnesses  are  apt 
to  exaggerate  the  violence  to  which  they  have  succumbed.  It 
seems  pretty  certain,  however,  that  little  regard  was  paid  to  the 
usual  forms  of  synodical  action  ; that  a large  body  of  soldiers 
and  counts,  and  a still  larger  body  of  monks,  were  ready  to  do 
the  bidding  of  Dioscorus ; that  when  opposition  arose,  the 
monks  rushed  in  ; that  some  of  the  Bishops  were  bruised,  some 
wounded,  some  put  in  chains,  some  forced  to  sign  a blank 
paper ; that,  with  the  exception  of  one  Roman  Legate  who 
protested  and  fled,  all  finally  gave  way  : that,  in  short,  Eutyckes 
Eutyches  was  cleared,  while  Flavianus  and  Eusebius  EiavUnJs 
were  condemned,  deposed,  and  thrown  into  prison. 

Flavianus  died  not  long  after,  of  injuries  received  at  the  hands 
of  Dioscorus.  The  Acts,  as  corrected  by  the  latter,  say  noth- 
ing of  all  this  violence.  Unfortunately  no  other  records  re- 
mained : for  the  tablets  kept  by  the  notaries  of  the  other  Bish- 
ops had  been  seized,  it  was  said,  by  order  of  Dioscorus,  and 
had  been  all  destroyed.  Such  is  the  substance  of  the  testimony 
given  at  the  Council  of  Chalcedon. 


532 


History  of  the  Church. 

Dioscorus,  in  all  this,  was  countenanced  by  the  Court ; and 
acting,  as  he  thought,  in  the  interest  of  a dominant  party,  secure 
Mistake  of  of  the  sympathy  of  the  great  body  of  the  monks, ^ con- 
Dtoscorus.  prestige  of  a See  so  often  and  so  recently 

victorious,  and  fighting  in  a cause  which  seemed  almost  identical 
with  that  of  S.  Cyril,  he  may  well  have  counted  on  the  strength 
of  party  spirit  to  bear  him  out  in  his  violence,  and  to  pardon, 
perhaps  to  reward,  the  excesses  of  his  zeal. 

The  event  soon  showed  how  much  he  was  mistaken.  Party 
spirit  in  the  Church  was  strong,  not  blind.  Furious  and  un- 
Zeai  for  sccmly  as  were  the  passions  of  the  age,  the  mightiest 
the  Truth,  still  was  love  for  the  Truth.  In  the  height  of 

the  tempest  of  religious  animosities,  there  was  a guiding  star, 
there  was  a certain  goal.  The  Incarnation,  as  a reality  and  a 
fact,  must  be  cleared  of  every  theory,  however  plausible,  that 
might  serve  in  any  way  to  obscure  it.  By  losing  sight  of  this, 
more  than  by  his  arbitrary  acts,  Dioscorus  lost  at  once  and  for- 
ever, for  himself  and  for  his  See,  the  advantages  of  his  strong 
position. 

Leo,  the  Roman  Bishop,  was  the  first  to  move  against  him. 
Before  the  meeting  at  Ephesus,  he  had  written  to  Flavianus  that 
famous  Letter,  which  still  remains  a standard  of  Church 
teaching  on  the  subject  of  the  Incarnation.  Diosco- 
Councti.  the  Letter  should  not  be  read  in  the 

Council.  For  this  and  other  reasons,  Leo  urged  the  Emperor 
to  take  the  necessary  steps  for  bringing  him  to  trial. 

Theodosius  declined  : for  it  was  the  fate  of  this  feeble 
prince,  more  of  a monk  than  of  an  Emperor,  to 
Emperor  foster  the  first  growth  of  both  those  opposite,  but 
kindred,  heresies,  which  were  destined  from  that  time 
forth  to  distract  the  East. 

Not  long  after,  he  departed  this  life.  His  feeble  and  peace- 
ful, but  inglorious,  reign,  beginning  with  an  infancy  of  seven 
years,  and  ending  with  what  was  hardly  more  than  an  infancy 

3 Dioscorus  is  charged  with  the  crime  of  corrupting  the  manners  of  the 
monks  : the  corruption,  however,  had  begun  a good  while  before. 


Pulcheria.  533 

of  fifty,  had  yet  afforded  some  proofs  to  mankind  that  piety 
alone  suffices  for  the  prosperity  and  safety  of  princes.**  character 
No  wars  of  any  consequence  had  disturbed  the  East : ^eign^ 

no  rebellion  had  unsheathed  the  sword  of  justice.  For  407-450. 
this  he  owed  much  to  his  sister  Pulcheria,  who,  having  devoted 
herself  to  the  virgin  life  and  induced  her  two  sisters  to  Pulcheria. 
do  likewise,  superintended  the  education  of  her  brother,  and 
was  afterwards  the  soul  of  all  his  counsels.  She  furnished  him 
with  able  masters  in  ‘‘horsemanship  and  the  use  of  Education 
arms,  in  literature  and  science.**  Another  part  of  his  s^us'thl 
training,  and  perhaps  the  only  part  in  which  he  prof- 
ited  much,  was  carefully  looked  to  by  the  princess  herself : “ she 
showed  him  how  to  gather  up  his  robes,  and  how  to  take  a seat ; 
to  refrain  from  ill-timed  laughter,  to  assume  a mild  or  formi- 
dable aspect  as  the  occasion  might  require,  to  inquire  with 
urbanity  into  the  cases  of  those  who  came  before  him  with 
petitions.  But  chiefly  she  strove  to  imbue  his  mind  with  piety 
and  with  the  love  of  prayer  ; to  go  to  Church  regularly ; to  con- 
tribute liberally  to  the  erection  and  embellishment  of  sacred 
buildings ; to  reverence  the  priests  and  other  good  men,  and 
especially  those  who,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  Christian- 
ity, had  devoted  themselves  to  philosophic  asceticism.** 

Under  this  feminine,  but  firm,  regime,  the  palace  was  more 
than  half  a monastery,  and  monkery  luxuriated  in  a dreamland 
of  unbridled  imagination.  It  was  at  this  period  that  Monachism 
Symeon,5  the  famous  pillar-saint,  lived  on  the  top  of  a 
post  two  cubits  in  circumference,  “ endeavoring  to  realize  in  the 
body  the  existence  of  the  heavenly  hosts.**  Nor  was  his  a soli- 
tary example.  His  whim  became  a rule  of  life  to  hosts  of  im- 
itators. Indeed,  such  was  the  religious  exaltation  of  the  age, 
that  Symeon,  after  all,  was  a sample  of  the  more  sober  rather 
than  of  the  wilder  moods  of  ascetic  enthusiasm. 


4 Sozom.  ix.  1-3;  Evagr.  i.  12-22;  Socrat.  vii.  42. 

5 The  historians,  especially  Evagrius,  dwell  with  rapture  upon  these  ex- 
travagances. Evag.  i.  13,  14,  21. 


534 


History  of  the  Church. 


A pilgrimage  of  the  Empress  Eudocia  to  Jerusalem,  in 
„ , . imitation  of  S.  Helena,  enabled  her  to  witness,  and 

Eudocia. 

caused  contemporary  writers  admiringly  to  record,  a 
few  of  these  wilder  excesses  of  the  monastic  spirit. 

There  were  some  ‘‘philosophers’*  who,  by  continuous  fasts 
and  vigils,  aimed  at  the  condition  of  “tombless  corpses”  : to 
Strange  bloodless,  nerveless,  passionless,  silent  as  the  grave, 
forms  of  was  the  height  of  their  perfection.  Others  lived  in 

Asceticism.  ,, 

holes  or  caves  or  lairs  of  wild  beasts,  just  large  enough 
to  admit  the  body  in  a crouching  posture.  Others,  of  either 
sex,  roved  almost  naked  in  herds,  through  wilds  and  deserts, 
shunning  the  face  of  civilized  men,  browsing  like  beasts,  and 
eluding. all  pursuit  by  supernatural  swiftness  of  foot.  There 
were  others,  a chosen  and  “perfect”  few,  who  by  such  exer- 
cises having  attained  the  pinnacle  of  philosophic  “apathy,” 
threw  themselves  down,  as  it  were,  into  the  common  crowd, 
mixed  with  the  world,  courted  temptation,  frequented  the  pub- 
lic baths  without  regard  to  the  distinction  of  sex,  “ became  men 
with  men  and  women  with  women,”  fasted,  sometimes  by  total 
abstinence  from  food,  sometimes  by  indulging  “against  their 
will”  in  luxurious  repasts:  in  short,  claimed  to  be  “dead 
men”  haunting  the  abodes  of  the  living,  and  were  popularly 
regarded  with  a corresponding  reverence. 

Such  were  some  of  the  spectacles  with  which  Eudocia  was 
edified  in  her  munificent  journey  through  the  East : such  had 

come  to  be  considered  the  most  perfect  fruits  of  that 

Liberality  . 

of  the  monastic  system  upon  which  she  and  Pulcheria,  and 

Empress.  , ^ 

the  Court  in  general,  were  disposed  to  lavish  the  treas- 
ures of  the  Empire.  At  a later  period,  the  Empress  herself  be- 
came a mark  for  scandal,  fell  into  disgrace  with  her  pious  hus- 
band, and  found  a refuge  amid  the  scenes  which  she  had  learned 
to  admire. 

The  vast  numbers  who  indulged  in  such  extravagances,  or  at 
Sensuous  l^^st  lent  countenance  to  them,  might  lead  one  to 
Enthusiasm,  conclude  that  the  world  at  this  time  was  running 
mad.  In  the  East,  however,  it  has  never  been  the  custom  to 


The  Council  of  Chalcedon. 


535 


shut  up  the  insane.  The  vagaries  which  with  us  are  hidden  out 
of  sight  and  almost  forgotten,  are  there  permitted  to  go  at 
large,  objects  of  reverence  rather  than  of  horror  or  shuddering 
compassion.  But  with  all  allowance  for  considerations  of  this 
kind,  it  is  still  plain  that,  in  the  age  of  the  younger  Theodosius, 
sensuous  enthusiasm  was  fearfully  increasing : so  that,  while 
cultivated  minds  were  absorbed  in  the  nice  distinctions  of  a 
high  theology,  the  people  were  straying,  almost  without  check, 
into  the  wilds  of  a fanciful  but  grovelling  superstition. 

Relic-worship,  especially,  received  a new  impulse  at  this 
time.  The  discovery  of  the  remains  of  saints,  from  Zachary 
the  Prophet  and  Stephen  the  Protomartyr,  down  to  ReUo^ 
the  forty  who  suffered  in  the  army  of  Licinius,  is 
a theme  upon  which  historians^  had  learned  to  dwell  with 
rapture.  Pulcheria  is  for  nothing  more  highly  lauded  than 
for  the  Divine^  instinct  she  possessed  for  discoveries  of  this 
kind. 

On  the  death  of  her  brother,  the  reins  of  government  fell 
naturally  into  the  hands  of  Pulcheria.  She  yielded  so  far  to 
the  prejudice  that  existed  against  feminine  rule,  as  to  Mardan 
choose  a nominal  husband  and  partner  of  the  throne.  Emperor^ 

A.D.  450. 

in  the  person  of  Marcian,  an  aged  and  worthy  senator. 

With  these  changes  in  the  Palace,  there  came  also  a new  policy 
with  regard  to  Church  affairs.  The  wishes  of  Pope  Leo,  disre- 
garded by  Theodosius,  were  at  length  carried  out ; and,  that 
peace  might  be  restored  to  the  Church,  it  was  determined  to 
call  a Synod  as  nearly  universal  as  the  power  of  the  Emperor 
could  make  it. 

Nicsea  was  first  selected  as  the  place  for  the  Council.  But 
Attila,  at  this  time,  was  threatening  the  Empire  with  his  hordes 
of  victorious  Huns,  and  it  was  not  convenient  that  the 

• • 1 Counctl  of 

Court  should  at  such  a crisis  be  absent  from  the  capi-  chaicedon^ 

^ A.D,  451, 

tal.  The  Bishops  therefore  were  summoned  to  Chal- 
cedon. There  they  finally  assembled,  in  the  Church  of  S.  Eu- 


t 


Sozom.  ix.  2,  17;  Evag.  i.  16. 


536 


History  of  the  Church. 

phemia,  by  the  sea-side,  a most  charming  spot^  commanding  a 
matchless  view  of  the  Propontis,  the  Imperial  city,  and  the  ma- 
jestic amphitheatre  of  wooded  hills  that  rose  in  stately  beauty 
behind. 

Pains  had  been  taken  to  have  the  Church  at  large  numerously 
represented.®  About  six  hundred  and  thirty  Bishops  obeyed  the 
Number  summons  to  attend.  The  bulk  of  these  came,  as  usual, 
from  the  East : the  West  was  represented  by  the  Le- 
Bishofs.  gates  of  Pope  Leo,  who  also  sent  letters  to  Marcian 
the  Emperor,  to  Anatolius  who  had  succeeded  Flavianus  in  the 
See  of  Constantinople,  and  especially  to  the  Council  itself.  The 
majesty  of  the  Empire  also  was  imposingly  set  forth.  Nineteen 
Officers  of  officers,  most  magnificent  and  most  illustrious,^* 

the  Empire,  (.q^suIs  and  ex-consuls,  prefects  and  ex-prefects,  mag- 
istrates and  counts,  civil  and  military,  sat  conspicuously  on  a 
platform  before  the  Altar  rails,  as  ‘‘judges  most  illustrious,**  the 
counsellors,  assessors,  and  moderators  generally  ofi  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Synod.  On  the  left  of  these,  two  “ most  reverend** 
Bishops  and  one  “most  religious*’  Presbyter  held  the  place  of 
Leo,  “the  most  holy  and  most  reverend  Archbishop  of  the 
mother  city,  Rome.”  The  thrones  of  Constantinople,  An- 
tioch, Caesarea,  Ephesus,  with  the  Bishops  of  Asia,  Pontus, 
Thrace,  came  next  in  order.  On  the  other  side,  Alexandria 
was  first,  then  Jerusalem,  with  the  Bishops  of  Egypt,  Palestine, 
Illyria.  The  Presence  of  the  Lord  was  fitly  symbolized,  as  at 
Ephesus,  by  a Book  of  the  Holy  Gospels  placed  in  the  midst  of 
the  assembly. 

Order  being  thus  established,  Paschasinus,  a Legate  of  “the 

7 Evagrius  enlarges  on  the  beauty  of  the  scenery  and  on  the  delicious 
odor,  surpassing  all  terrestrial  perfumes,  which  exhaled  from  the  body  of  S. 
Euphemia.  To  the  prayers  of  this  Saint  much  of  the  success  of  the  Council 
was  attributed. 

® Copious  accounts  of  this  Council,  including  the  Latrocinium,  etc.,  are 
given  in  the  Concilia.  See  also  Evagrius,  B.  ii. ; also,  for  a useful  summary, 
Hammond’s  Councils  and  Canons ; Tillemont,  tom.  xv.  S.  Leon;  Neale’s 
H.  E.  Ch.  ♦ 


The  Council  of  Chalcedon.  537 

Apostolic  See/^  stood  up  and  said  to  the  ^^most  illustrious 
Judges  and  the  most  eminent  assem*bly/*  We  hold  First 
in  our  hands  instructions  from  that  most  blessed  and 
apostolic  man,  the  Pope  of  the  city  Rome,  the  head  of  all  the 
Churches,  that  Dioscorus  shall  not  be  permitted  to  sit  in  the 
Council.  These  instructions  we  are  bound  to  follow.  There- 
fore, if  it  please  your  magnificence,  let  Dioscorus  go  out,  or  else 
we  go.**  The  Judges  asked,  What  charges  in  particular  are 
brought  against  the  most  reverend  Bishop  Dioscorus?**  We 
allege,**  replied  the  Legate,  that  he  has  dared  to  hold  a Synod 
without  the  authority  of  the  Apostolic  See,  a thing  never  done 
before,  nor  ever  allowed.**  The  Judges  said,  ‘‘You  must  set 
forth  the  particulars  wherein  he  has  offended.**  One  of  the  Le- 
gates answered,  “We  cannot  suffer  such  a wrong  to  ourselves  or 
to  you,  as  that  a man  who  is  on  trial  should  sit  here  Dioscorus 
among  us.**  The  Judges  then  said  to  Dioscorus,  “If  'I'rtai, 
you  sit  as  a judge,  you  cannot  be  at  the  same  time  a party  to 
the  cause.**  Thereupon,  Dioscorus  placing  himself  as  ordered 
in  the  midst  of  the  assembly,  and  the  Legates  sitting  in  their 
own  seats,  Eusebius,  “ the  most  religious  Bishop  of  the  city 
Dorylaeum,**  came  forward  and  said:  “By  the  safety  of  the 
masters  of  the  world,  command  my  petition  to  be  read,  as  the 
most  pious  Emperor  has  directed.  I have  been  wronged  by 
Dioscorus  ; the  Faith  has  been  wronged ; Bishop  Flavianus  has 
been  murdered.  Along  with  me  he  has  been  unrighteously  con- 
demned. Order  my  petition  to  be  read.**  The  most  illustrious 
Judges  and  the  most  eminent  assembly  answered,  “Let  the  peti- 
tion be  read.’*  Then,  Eusebius  being  ordered  to  sit  down  in 
his  place,  Veronicianus,  “the  sacred  Secretary  of  the  Divine 
Consistory,**  took  the  petition  from  his  hands  and  read  it 

Such  was  the  opening  of  the  business  at  Chalcedon.  It  was 
a trial  of  Eutyches,  Dioscorus  and  the  Robber  Council.  Peti- 
tions were  heard.  Acts  were  read,  testimony  was  re-  Dioscorus 
ceived,  Dioscorus  the  meanwhile  pleading  his  own  cothajues 
cause  with  great  coolness  and  ability.  The  most  he 
could  prove  was  that  he  was  not  alone  in  fault.  In  this  he 

23* 


53S  History  of  the  Church. 

succeeded  so  well  that,  when  he  was  finally  condemned,  his 
principal  colleagues  in  the  proceedings  at  Ephesus  shared  his 
sentence.  These,  however,  had  already  made  their  peace  with 
Leo.  They  were  equally  prompt  in  submission  to  the  Council, 
and  were  consequently  restored.  The  guilt  of  Dioscorus  was 
aggravated  by  contumacy,  and  by  numerous  acts  of  violence, 
tyranny,  rapacity  and  scandalous  behavior. 

With  the  condemnation  of  Eutyches  and  Dioscorus,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Incarnation  was  more  exactly  defined  ; and  the  four 
Definitions  truly,  perfectly,  indivisibly,  without  confusion, 

became  from  that  time  the  sum  of  the  testimony  of  the 
four  great  Councils,  the  safeguard  against  every  wind 
of  error,  from  whatever  quarter  it  might  blow.  That  Jesus 
Christ  is  true  God,  had  been  witnessed  at  Nicaea ; that  He  is 
perfect  Man,  had  been  defined  at  Constantinople ; that  He  is 
indivisibly  One  Person,  had  been  settled  at  Ephesus : finally,  the 
six  hundred  and  thirty  at  Chalcedon  declared  that  He  is  one 
and  the  same  Christ,  the  Son,  the  Lord,  the  Only-begotten,  in^ 
two  Natures,  without  confusion,  change,  division  or  separation.^* 

Most  fully  and  accurately  had  all  this  been  expressed  in  the 

famous  Letter  of  Pope  Leo.*®  Accordingly  when  that  document 

Leo's  was  read,  the  Council  received  it  with  acclamations  : 

Letter,  <<This  is  the  Faith  of  the  Fathers;  this  is  the  Faith 

of  the  Apostles.  Anathema  to  him  who  believes  it  not.  Peter 

has  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  Leo.  Religiously  and  truly  has 

Leo  taught.  So  Cyril  taught.  Cyril  and  Leo  have  taught 

alike.  Anathema  to  him  who  believes  not  with  them.**  But 

♦ 

some  of  the  Illyrian  and  Palestine  Bishops  objected  to  certain 
expressions  in  the  Letter.  Thereupon  parallel*  passages  were 
cited  from  the  writings  of  S.  Cyril.  Some  of  the  Bishops  being 
still  unsatisfied,  the  Judges  at  length  consented  to  a postpone- 
ment of  the  subject  for  five  days,  during  which  the  disputed 
phrases  might  be  examined  more  carefully,  and  compared  with 

9 The  word  in  two  Natures  ” was  carried  by  the  urgency  of  the  Papal 
Legates,  many  of  the  Easterns  preferring  to  say  ‘‘  offi  Concil.  Chalced, 
Act.  V.  Carefully  translated  in  Neale’s  H.  E.  Ch. 


The  Council  of  Chalcedon. 


539 


admitted  standards.  Anatolius,  the  successor  of  Flavianus,  was 
appointed  to  conduct  the  investigation.  After  seven  Accepted  on 
days  the  committee  reported;"  the  objectors  were 
satisfied  ; and  it  was  unanimously  declared  that  Leo’s 
Tome,  inasmuch  as  it  accorded  with  the  witness  of  the  Three 
Hundred  and  Eighteen  at  Nicaea,  of  the  Hundred  and  Fifty  at 
Constantinople,  and  with  the  writings  of  S.  Cyril  approved  at 
Ephesus,  was  to  be  received  and  subscribed  as  a true  exposition 
of  the  Faith. 

A more  difficult  matter,  involving  bitter  feelings  and  leading 
to  stormy  scenes,  was  the  treatment  of  the  Bishops  who  had 
fallen  under  the  censure  of  the  Council."  The  col- 

The 

leagues  of  Dioscorus  at  Ephesus  were  let  off  lightly,  condemned 
as  has  been  already  mentioned.  As  to  Dioscorus  him- 
self, his  doom  was  irrevocable,  and  he  was  banished  to  Gangra 
in  Paphlagonia,  where  he  died  some  three  years  after.  Thirteen 
Egyptians,  his  suffragans,  threw  themselves  upon  the  mercy  of 
their  brethren.  They  held  the  Faith,  they  were  willing  to  sub- 
scribe, they  were  ready  to  anathematize  all  heretics,  but  how 
could  they  do  so  until  a new  head  should  be  chosen  over  them  ? 
Their  excuses  were  met  with  a storm  of  reprobation. 

. ^ Hard  Case 

‘‘Why  have  they  not  anathematized  the  dogma  of  o/the 

■Egyptians » 

Eutyches  ? They  are  trying  to  deceive  us  and  get  off. 

Let  them  do  as  the  rest  have  done.  Let  them  subscribe  the 
Tome  of  Leo.  Let  them  anathematize  Dioscorus.”  The  Bish- 
ops threw  themselves  on  the  ground.  “ Have  mercy  on  us. 
Pity  our  gray  hairs.  We  are  too  few  to  act  for  the  whole  of 
Egypt.  If  we  venture  so  to  do,  they  will  banish  us,  they  will 
murder  us,  all  Egypt  will  rise  against  us,  we  shall  waste  our  days 
in  exile.  Be  compassionate,  be  merciful.  If  you  wish  us  to  be 
killed,  slay  us  yourselves.  Let  us  die  here  at  your  feet.”  One 
of  the  Roman  Legates  answered  by  a cruel  taunt : “Are  men 
of  your  years  so  ignorant  of  the  true  Faith,  that  you  must  wait 
forsooth  for  the  opinions  of  other  people  ?”  Eusebius  of  Dory- 
laeum  said  flatly,  “They  are  liars.”  Another  prelate  cried, 

**  Concil.  Chalced.  Act.  iv.  *=*  Concil.  Chalced,  Act.  iv. 


540 


History  of  the  Church. 

they  do  not  know  their  own  mind,  how  can  they  choose  a 
Bishop?’*  The  Church  resounded  with  similar  ex- 
R<  quest  clamations.  The  Judges,  however,  decided  that  their 

allowed.  ^ o 

request  was  reasonable,  and  a truce  was  accorded  them 
until  a new  Patriarch  should  be  appointed. 

Theodoret  of  Cyrus  was  still  under  a cloud,  from  the  part 
he  had  taken  in  the  Nestorian  controversy.  When  he  entered 
Case  of  the  Council,  therefore,  at  its  first  session,  he  was 
Tkeodoret.  greeted  with  a Babel  of  angry  cries.  Away  with  the 
Nestorian  ! **  shouted  the  Egyptians  : ‘‘Away  with  Theodoret, 
who  anthematized  S.  Cyril  1 **  The  Orientals  retorted,  “Away 
with  Dioscorus,  away  with  the  murderer  of  Flavianus  ! **  The 
Judges  allowed  him  to  remain  as  one  on  trial.  In  the  eighth 
session  his  case  was  called  up  by  a cry  from  the  whole  assembly : 
“Let  Theodoret  now  anathematize  Nestorius!**  Theodoret 
passed  over  to  the  middle  of  the  Church  and  said  : 
to  explain.  <<  j presented  a petition  to  the  most  divine  and 
religious  Emperor,  and  I have  handed  in  a memorial  to  the 
most  reverend  Bishops  who  here  hold  the  place  of  the  most  rev- 
erend Archbishop  Leo  : now,  therefore,  if  it  please  you,  let  my 
papers  be  read,  that  ye  may  know  what  is  my  belief.**  The 
A Hearing  Bishops  shouted,  “ We  want  nothing  read  : anathema- 
dentedhtm.  Nestorius  !**  Theodoret  replied,  “By  the  grace 
of  God  I was  brought  up  in  the  right  faith,  and  in  the  right 
faith  was  I instructed,  and  the  right  faith  have  I preached  : and 
not  only  Nestorius  and  Eutyches,  but  every  other  heretic  I 
utterly  abhor.**  The  Bishops  interrupted  him  by  exclaiming : 
“Speak  out  clearly  and  at  once;  anathematize  Nestorius!** 
Theodoret  persisted  in  the  attempt  to  define  his  position,  but 
before  he  had  uttered  three  sentences  he  was  again  cut  short : 
“Speak  plainly  and  unequivocally;  anathematize  Nestorius!’* 
But  he  was  determined  to  be  heard  : “ If  I am  not  to  explain 
myself,  I cannot  speak  at  all.  I believe  . . .**  The  rest  of  his 
speech  was  drowned  in  a general  outcry : “ He  is  a 

He  submits.  , . . __  , i -i  • • >> 

heretic.  He  is  a Nestorian.  Put  the  heretic  out  ! 
He  at  length  had  to  yield.  He  anathematized  Nestorius ; the 


The  Monophy sites.  541 

Judges  pronounced  him  clear ; and  the  Synod  in  due  form 
received  him  into  favor. 

The  Council  concluded  its  labors  by  enacting  twenty-eight 
canons : the  last  of  which  reaffirmed  the  Eastern  rule  of  pre- 
cedence, by  giving  the  second  place  of  honor  to  Con-  canon 
stantinople  as  new  Rome.  This  was  earnestly  opposed 
by  the  Roman  Legates. It  was  contrary,  they  urged,  to  the 
sixth  canon  of  Nicaea,  which  declares  that  Rome  shall  have  the 
primacy.  But  this  was  shown  at  once  to  be  a false  reading. 
They  then  urged  that  the  Bishops  present  who  had  signed  the 
twenty-eighth  canon  had  done  so  against  their  will.  But  this 
was  indignantly  and  unanimously  denied.  The  Judges  finally 
decided  in  favor  of  the  canon,  the  Bishops  stood  by  their  de- 
cision, and  though  Leo  afterwards  declared  it  null  and  void,  as 
being  contrary  to  the  sixth  canon  of  Nicaea,  yet  it  became  law 
in  the  Eastern  Church,  and  even  Rome  at  a later  period  was 
obliged  to  acquiesce  in  it.*^ 

So  ended  a Synod,  the  most  complete,  the  most  End  of  the 
imposing,  and  in  some  respects  the  most  important,  Council. 
of  all  that  had  gone  under  the  name  of  Ecumenical  Councils. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

% THE  MONOPHYSITES. 

The  testimony  of  Chalcedon,  like  that  of  Ephesus,  had  its 
wholesome  effect  mainly  upon  the  upper  soil  of  the  Effect  0/ 
Empire,  upon  the  cultivated  and  courtly  Greek  intel-  Council. 
lect.  The  elements  that  lay  lower,  the  Coptic,  Syriac,  Oriental 
mind,  were  only  stirred  by  it  into  a poisonous  fermentation. 

*3  Concil.  Chalced.  Act.  xvi. 

*4  Tillemont,  tom.  xv. ; S.  Leon^  art.  cxxxvii. 


542 


History  of  the  Church. 


In  Egypt, ^ the  doom  of  Dioscorus  was  furiously  resented. 
Alexandria  broke  out  into  riot  and  revolt.*  On  the  arrival  of 
Troubles  the  new  Patriarch  appointed  at  Chalcedon, 

in  Egypt,  the  populace  assaulted  the  magistrates  and  troops, 
stormed  the  old  temple  of  Serapis  in  which  they  had 
taken  refuge,  and  having  at  length  seized  the  victims  of  their 
displeasure,  committed  them  alive  to  the  flames.  A reinforce- 
ment from  the  capital  changed  the  face  of  affairs.  The  soldiery 
were  in  turn  triumphant ; the  citizens  were  quelled  ; rape  and 
robbery  were  the  order  of  the  day. 

A hollow  truce  ensued  ; but  faction  was  still  busy  beneath 
the  surface.  Timothy,  a Presbyter,  surnamed  ^lurus,  the  Cat, 
Timothy  from  liis  feline  way  of  creeping  into  the  cells  of  the 
the  Cat.  Monks  by  night,  sedulously  fanned  the  embers  of  sedi- 
tion. The  flames  burst  forth  anew  on  the  death  of  the  Emperor. 
Proterius,  the  Patriarch,  was  the  principal  victim.  Being  mur- 
dered in  the  Baptistery,  whither  he  had  fled,  he  was 

Murder  0/ 

Proterius,  disembowclled,  dragged  by  a rope  through  the  streets 
* amid  the  jeers  of  the  crowd,  torn  limb  from  limb,  and 
finally,  with  that  thorough-going  savagery  which  distinguished 
the  Alexandrians,  what  remained  of  him  was  burnt  and  the  ashes 
scattered  to  the  winds.  Timothy  was  believed  to  have  been  at 
the  bottom  of  all  this.  He,  however,  charged  it  upon  the  sol- 
diers. It  is  more  certain  that  he  managed  to  get  himself  made 
Bishop,  and  that  the  people  of  Alexandria,  with  their  digni- 
taries, senators,  and  shipmasters,”  petitioned  the  Emperor  Leo  to 
ratify  the  act.  But  there  was  a protest  from  all  quarters  against 
such  a profanation.  Among  others,  Symeon,  the  pillar-saint, 
wrote  earnestly  to  prevent  it.  In  the  end,  Timothy  the  Cat  was 
banished,  and  another  Timothy  was  elected  in  his  place. 

From  that  time,  the  history  of  the  Church  in  Egypt  is  a 
melancholy  picture  of  decay,  varied  only  by  a few  saintly 
names,  such  as  that  of  John  the  Almoner,*  a man  who  left  a 
memory  worthy  of  better  times.  The  mass  of  the  people  clung 

* Evag.  ii.  5,  8-1 1. 

* Neale’s  H.  E.  Ch.  Book  III. 


The  Monophysites. 


543 


to  the  tenets  of  Dioscorus.  The  Catholics  kept  up  a feeble  suc- 
cession in  Alexandria,  who  were  called,  and  called 
themselves,^  Melchites  or  Royalists : a name  suffi- 
ciently  indicative  that  the  feud  was  political  and  so- 
cial as  well  as  theological.  Catholicism,  in  fact,  seemed  more 
and  more,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Egyptians,  the  badge  of  an  odious 
dependence  upon  Constantinople.  It  was  a Hellenism  which 
the  true  Copt  had  learned  to  abhor. 

A shadow  of  this  growing  alienation  had  appeared  long  be- 
fore in  the  times  of  the  Meletian  schism  : we  may  see  shadows 
glimpses  of  it  also  in  the  history  of  Monachism,  and 
nowhere  more  clearly  than  in  the  life  of  S.  Antony  himself. 

For  it  is  noted  of  that  Saint  that  he  was  ignorant  of  Greek, 
and  spake  to  his  ‘‘  children’*  in  their  native  tongue.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  great  eremites  in  general.  The  strange 
religious  movement  initiated  by  them,  that  mysterious  Copti^,  not 
epidemic  which  peopled  the  deserts  and  gave  a new 
impulse  to  popular  Christianity,  drew  its  weird  and  sombre  life 
from  the  old  Coptic  mind  rather  than  from  the  sunny  and  ration- 
alizing Greeks.  Yet  so  long  as  Greek  rule  centred  in  Alexan- 
dria, Egyptian  Monachism  was  kept  well  in  hand.  Athanasius 
caressed  it,  Theophilus  and  Cyril  were  glad  to  humor  it,  Dios- 
corus corrupted  it  or  was  corrupted  by  it.  But  with  the  fall  of 
Dioscorus  the  sceptre  passed  from  Alexandria.  Hellenism,  in 
consequence,  became  foreign  and  detestable.  Timothy  the  Cat, 
not  a bad  type  of  the  old  genius  loci,  began  to  purr  portentously 
in  the  cells  of  the  monks  and  in  the  hovels  of  the  people.  The 
country,  in  short,  had  followed  with  some  reluctance  the  lead 
of  Alexandria : from  the  sway  of  Constantinople  it  furiously 
revolted. 

It  might  have  revolted  from  Christianity  as  well, 
had  not  the  latter  been  provided  with  a hold  on  ative 
the  public  mind  much  deeper  than  Greek  culture, 
much  stronger  than  the  bonds  which  kept  the  Empire  together. 


3 Renaudot,  p.  119. 


544 


History  of  the  Church. 

The  Liturgies,  it  is  probable,  had  been  long  celebrated  in 
the  Coptic  as  well  as  in  the  Greek  the  latter  predominating 
rrr  r ^ho  citios,  tho  fomior  in  the  country.  From  the 

Worship  in  ^ ^ 

the  vulgar  time  of  Dioscorus,  the  Coptic  prevailed  more  and 

Tongue. 

more.  Further  south  the  Ethiopian  was  employed, 
or  other  vernacular  tongues.  In  those  languages  the  orthodoxy 
and  devotion  of  the  first  four  centuries  remained,  as  it  were, 
embalmed  : for  the  flow  of  current  speech  soon  drifted  far  away 
from  the  sacred  standards,  and  the  new  religious  idioms  became 
as  unintelligible  and  obsolete  as  the  old. 

The  Monophysite  Patriarchs,  so  long  as  the  Emperors  main- 
Patrtarchs  tained  a show  of  authority  over  Egypt,  were  obliged 
and  Monks.  exile : their  residence  being  the  monastery 

of  S.  Macarius,  in  the  Thebais.  Timothy  the  Cat,  however, 
enjoyed  a brief  restoration  to  the  throne  of  Alexan- 

A.D. 470-477. 

dria,  and  was  succeeded  by  Peter  Mongus,  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  sect.  But  he  also  was  banished  after  a little  while. 
His  successors  lived  out  of  reach  of  the  Greek  tongue  and  Greek 
ideas,  ruling  numberless  communities  of  monks,  and  keeping  a 
firm  hold  through  them  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

Separated  thus  in  language,  in  temper,  in  political  views,  in 
social  and  religious  habits,  in  that  bias  of  blood  and  race  which 
Coptic  ^ permanently  subdued,  Coptic 

Chris-  Christianity  has  henceforth  little  in  common  with  the 

tiamty. 

Greek  Establishment.  Its  sympathies  are  with  the 
Vernacularism  of  the  East : of  which,  as  the  Nestorian  schism 
had  carried  off  a large  section,  the  Monophysites  fell  heirs  to  as 
much  as  remained. 

With  regard  to  Egypt  and  its  dependencies,  Nubia,  Ethiopia, 
Abyssinia  and  parts  of  Arabia,  the  quarrel  was  carried  on  with  a 
Madness  of  ^^ry  of  whicli  some  unhappy  examples  have  already 
the  People,  given.  It  is  needless  to  add  more.^  The  decay 

of  great  States  engenders  a ‘‘madness  of  the  people,*'  to  which 

4 Renaudot,  Liturg.  Oriental,  cap.  vi. ; Palmer’s  Origines  Liturg. 

5 In  troublous  times  men’s  minds,  especially  in  the  East,  are  prone  to  ex- 
aggeration : so  that  the  hundreds  of  thousands  slain  in  some  of  the  religious 


545 


The  Monophysites. 

no  crime  seems  too  atrocious,  no  folly  too  extravagant : so  that 
the  testimony  of  an  ancient  Bishop^  may  have  a grain  of  truth 
in  it  when  he  declares  that,  under  the  consulship  of  Venantius 
and  Celer,  the  people  of  Alexandria  and  all  Egypt  were  seized 
with  a strange  and  diabolical  frenzy : great  and  small,  slaves 
and  freedmen,  monks  and  clergy,  the  natives  of  the  land  who 
opposed  the  Synod  of  Chalcedon,  lost  their  speech  and  reason, 
barked  like  dogs,  and  tore  with  their  own  teeth  the  flesh  from 
their  own  hands  and  arms/'  However  this  maybe,  Entire 
the  alienation  of  the  Egyptians  went  on  increasing. 

By  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  it  had  gone  so  far  that, 
when  the  Saracens  came  in,  the  standard  of  the  Church  and 
Empire  was  upheld  only  by  a trembling  remnant  in  Alexandria: 
the  mass  of  the  people  were  ready  to  welcome  the  new  yoke, 
and  many  of  them,  perhaps,  the  new  religion. 

A like  falling  away,  from  the  same  or  like  causes,  had  fol- 
lowed the  Council  of  Chalcedon  in  Palestine  and  General 
Syria.  The  monks,  as  usual,  were  at  the  bottom  of  awap 
the  mischief. 

In  Palestine,  Theodosius  and  other  ascetics  had  come  back 
from  the  Council  fuming  with  indignation.  The  Faith  had 
been  betrayed,  their  Order  had  been  slighted.  Such  ^ 

was  the  cry  that  resounded  through  the  wilderness  Palestine^ 
and  kindled  the  monastic  heart.  The  Patriarch  Juve- 
nalis  fled  in  terror  from  Jerusalem  and  took  refuge  in  Constanti- 
nople : Theodosius,  the  meanwhile,  ordaining  whom  he  would, 
stirring  the  people  far  and  wide  to  revolt  against  the  Empire, 
and  turning  the  Church  upside  down.  The  rebellion  was  sub- 
dued, and  Juvenalis  was  restored  to  his  See.  But  order  and 
peace  returned  not  with  him.  Many  sad  occurrences  followed 
his  arrival,  and  either  party  indulged  in  whatever  proceedings 
their  anger  suggested." 


riots  might  be  safely  reduced,  perhaps,  to  as  many  hundreds.  See  Gibbon, 
ch.  xlvii.  V.,  and  Neale,  vol.  ii.  pp.  33,  44. 

^ Victor  Tunnunensis,  quoted  by  Gibbon,  ch.  xlvii. 


546 


History  of  the  Church. 

The  quarrel,  ostensibly,  hinged  upon  a letter : whether 
Difference  Clirist  is  iu,  or  ofj  two  Natures,  was  a question  that 
men  ‘^reckless  of  death  in  any  shape,’’  that 
excited  the  most  bitter  and  enduring  animosities.  But,  in 
reality,  there  was  much  that  lay  behind  the  apparent  question. 

In  Palestine,  as  in  Egypt,  the  souls  of  men  were  galled 
Quarrel,  inveterate  misrule  ; the  harness  of  Greek  sway  had 
grown  stiff  and  cumbersome,  the  back  of  Nativism  was  sore, 
and  winced  at  every  touch. 

In  Syria,  the  chief  agitator  was  Barsumas,  the  ringleader  of 
that  famous  thousand  who  had  abetted  Eutyches  and  Dioscorus 
^ . in  the  Robber  Council.  He  also  returned  in  a fury 

In  Syria. 

from  Chalcedon,  where  he  had  been  condemned,  and 
communicated  his  rage  far  and  wide  through  Syria.  Through 
some  of  his  followers  the  infection  extended  into  Mesopotamia 

, and  Armenia.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  the 

Jacob 

Baradai,  Monk  Jacob,  sumamcd  Baradai,  or  the  Ragged,  after- 

A.D.  541-578. 

wards  Bishop  of  Edessa,  propagated  it  more  largely 
and  organized  it  more  powerfully.  From  him  was  the  main 
line  of  Monophysite  Patriarchs.  From  him  the  sect  took  the 
name  Jacobite,  by  which  it  is  best  known  in  history. 

In  all  these  instances  the  general  result  was  the  same  the 
establishment  of  schismatical  Patriarchates,  with  their  dependen- 
Generai  cies,  in  Syria,  Armenia,  Egypt^;  the  fixing  of  creeds, 

canons,  customs,  and  ritual  observances,  at  the  point 
which  they  had  reached  before  the  Council  of  Chalcedon ; the 
more  general  use,  in  worship,  of  the  vernacular  tongues ; a con- 
tinuous disintegration  into  sects  and  schisms  ; yet  wuthal  a cer- 
tain conservatism,  in  the  midst  of  furious  agitations,®  which 
fossilized  the  religion  of  three,  as  Nestorianism  had  done  that 
of  two,  General  Councils,  and  kept  it  a mute  witness  to  later 
times. 

Such  conservatism,  however,  was  of  the  letter  rather  than 

7 See  Assemanni,  Bibliothec.  Oriental,  tom.  ii. 

® The  Liturgies  were  the  conservative  element : and  the  very  violence  of 
controversy  made  men  jealous  of  any  alterations  in  the  Liturgies. 


547 


The  Monophysites. 

of  the  spirit.  The  Monophysite  heresy  professed,  like  the  Nes- 
torian,  to  follow  the  old  paths  and  to  be  content  with  Nature  o/ 
the  old  definitions.  But  the  root  of  both  errors  was 
an  aversion  to  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation.  From  a bias 
usually  ascribed  to  Oriental  philosophy,  but  belonging,  same 
perhaps,  to  philosophy  in  general,  men  shrank  from 
such  a nearness  of  God  and  man.  They  endeavored 
to  evade  it : Nestorius,  by  separating  the  two  Natures  in  two 
distinct  persons ; Eutyches,  by  so  joining  the  two  as  to  cause 
the  less  to  be  swallowed  up  of  the  greater. 

Of  the  numberless  Monophysite  sects,^  the  Armenians  were 
chiefly  Eutychian  : they  held,  that  is,  to  the  tenet  of  a phantas- 
mal or  ethereal  body,  and  were  called  Phantasiasts  or  sects, 
Docetce,  There  were  numerous  shades  of  this  opinion. 

The  Incorrupticolce  held  that  the  Flesh  of  Christ  was  not  subject 
to  the  usual  wear  and  repair  of  the  human  body : their  oppo- 
nents they  branded  as  Phthartolatrce^  Ktisfolatrce,  worshippers 
of  the  corruptible,  creature-worshippers.  They  differed,  and 
split  into  minor  sects,  on  the  question  whether  the  Flesh  of 
Christ  was  created  incorruptible,  or  rendered  incorruptible,  or 
uncreated  as  well  as  incorruptible.  The  Theopaschites  main- 
tained that  the  Divinity  suffered  on  the  Cross  : their  symbol, 
however,  the  addition  to  the  Trisagion  of  the  phrase,  Who 
wast  crucified  for  usf  jcan  be  easily  understood  in  an  orthodox 
sense. 

The  Egyptians  followed  Dioscorus,  and  contended  that  as 
body  and  soul  make  one  man^  so  the  Divinity  and  Hu-  Dioscorians, 
manity  make  up  one  compound  Nature  in  Christ.  These  again 
were  divided  into  numerous  sects. 

Syria  was  the  great  battle-field  of  Orientalism  in  general. 
There  Eutychians  and  Dioscorians  anathematized  one  Syria  the 
another : while  both  waged  a vigorous  war  with  the 
Catholics  and  Nestorians.  There  was  a disposition,  however, 
to  fall  back  occasionally  on  the  ground  of  indifferentism  so 

9 Asseman.  tom.  ii.  Dissertat.  iv. ; Neale’s  H,  E,  Ch,  vol.  ii.  hi.  i. 

Asseman.  tom.  ii.  Dissertat.  iii. 


548 


History  of  the  Church. 

that  the  religious  strifes  of  the  East  were  diversified  by  truces 
and  times  of  intercommunion. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Emperors,  who  were  virtually  the 
Policy o/the  popcs  of  the  Melcliites,  the  heads  and  defenders  of 
Emperors,  Catholicism,  Were  doing  what  they  could  to 

settle  the  religious  quarrels  of  their  subjects. 

With  this  view,*  Leo,  Marcian’s  successor,  consulted  the 
Leo,  Metropolitans  of  the  East  as  to  the  expediency  of 

A.D.  458.  passing  by  the  decrees  of  Chalcedon  they,  how- 
ever, declined  to  concur  in  any  such  measure. 

With  the  same  view,  Zeno,  by  the  advice  of  the  Patriarch 
Acacius,  issued  his  famous  Henoticon^^"^  or  edict  of  unity.  To 
Zeno.  The  an  end  to  a strife  by  which  multitudes  were  de- 
Henottcon.  pj-iyed  of  the  Lavcr  of  Regeneration,  and  multitudes 
more  of  the  grace  of  the  Divine  Communion  ; through  which 
murders  innumerable  were  committed,  so  that  earth  and  the 
very  air  were  defiled  with  blood  : he  declared  that  the  Faith 
of  the  Three  Hundred  and  Eighteen,  with  the  added  testimony 
of  Constantinople  and  Ephesus,  including  the  twelve  Anathemas 
of  Cyril  and  the  anathemas  pronounced  against  Nestorius  and 
Eutyches,  would  be  satisfactory  and  sufficient.  The  Council 
of  Chalcedon  and  the  Tome  of  Leo  he  quietly  passed  over. 
jjcnu  The  omission  was  intended  as  a peace-offering  to  the 
received.  Egyptians,  and  was  favorably  received  by  large  num- 
bers, both  of  the  heretics  and  moderate  Catholics.  Peter  the 
Fuller  and  Peter  Mongus,  the  Monophysite  Patriarchs  in-  Anti- 
och and  Alexandria,  gave  in  their  adherence.  But  many  of 
their  party  broke  off  from  them,  and  were  thenceforth  known  in 
Schism  0/  A cej>ha/i,  or  Headless.  Among  the  Catho- 

w there  were  similar  divisions.  Felix  11.  of  Rome, 
A D- 484-5'9.  resenting  the  slight  put  upon  his  See  in  the  omission 
of  Leo’s  Tome  from  the  Henoticon,  refused  to  commune  with 
the  Greek  Church  till  the  wrong  should  be  redressed  ; and  the 
schism  lasted  thirty-five  years.  His  name,  when  he  died,  was 
omitted  from  the  diptychs  of  Constantinople.  On  the  other 
**  Evag.  ii.  9,  10.  Evag.  iii.  14. 


549 


The  Monophysiles. 

hand,  there  was  no  place  in  the  Roman  diptychs  for  some  of  the 
most  saintly  of  the  Oriental  Bishops.  What  was  worse,  certain 
Monks  in  the  Eastern  capital,  the  Akoemetas  or  watchers,  took 
part  with  Rome  : which  enabled  the  latter  to  harass  the  rival 
See,  keeping  it  in  a state  of  perpetual  irritation. 

Anastasius  came  to  the  throne,  an  old  man,  fond  of  peace, 
averse  to  the  shedding  of  blood,  anxious  to  conciliate  all  differ- 
ences of  opinion.  But  in  times  of  general  ferment,  padjic 
neutrality,  to  be  effective,  is  forced  to  take  up  arms,  ^ course  r/ 

^ . Anastasius. 

and  tolerance  becomes  less  tolerant  than  bigotry  itself. 

Such  proved  to  be  the  case  with  the  well-intentioned  Emperor. 

He  deposed  those  Bishops  who  proclaimed,  and  those  who 
anathematized,  the  Council  of  Chalcedon.^^'^  jje  let  them 
alone,  however,  if  the  avowal  of  their  tenets  provoked  no  op- 
position ; and  he  countermanded  the  sentence  of  deposition,  in 
case  the  enforcing  of  it  should  be  violently  resisted.  The  result 
of  it  all  was  a decided  increase  of  the  spirit  of  sedition. 

Constantinople  especially  was  the  theatre  of  religious  tu- 
mults,*'*  occasioned  by  an  attempt,  on  the  part  of  certain  Monks, 
to  introduce  the  chanting  of  the  Trisagion  with  the  mots  in  the 
Antiochean  addition,  Thou  that  wast  crucified  for 
us.''  The  first  attempts  of  the  kind  were  easily  enough  put 
down.  Afterwards  the  Emperor  was  advised  to  enforce  the  tol- 
eration of  the  obnoxious  chant,  and  two  of  his  officers  under- 
took to  sing  it  in  church.  A furious  riot  ensued.  The  friends  of 
the  old  Trisagion  and  the  votaries  of  the  new  paraded  the  streets, 
chanting  their  respective  symbols.  From  words  to  blows,  from 
blows  to  bloodshed,  and  from  bloodshed  to  a complete  satur- 
nalia of  incendiarism,  sacrilege,  pillage,  was  common  enough  in 
an  age  when  Liberty,  if  it  breathed  at  all,  breathed  only  in  con- 
vulsive outbreaks.  In  the  present  instance,  the  throne  itself  was 
shaken  in  the  tumult.  There  was  a cry  on  all  sides  for 

Anastasius 

the  Emperor  to  resign.  Anastasius  submitted.  He  resigns, 
appeared  before  the  mob  with  his  diadem  in  his  hand ; 
hearkened  with  meek  attention  to  the  orthodox  Trisagion  which 
*3  Evag.  iii.  30,  34.  *4  Evag.  iii.  44. 


550 


History  of  the  Church. 

they  thundered  in  his  ears ; and  finally,  professing  himself  will- 
ing to  abdicate,  called  upon  them,  *‘as  all  could  not  reign,''  to 
make  choice  of  one  to  be  his  successor.  The  crowd  was  molli- 
fied ; and  Anastasius,  having  appeased  them  further  by  the  blood 
of  the  two  obnoxious  officers,  was  allowed  to  resume  the  sem- 
blance of  imperial  power. 

Concessions  more  ample  still  were  extorted  by  Vitalian,  a 
Scythian  chief,  who,  enlisting  a horde  of  Huns  in  the  cause  of 
^ Chalcedon  and  Rome,  devastated  Thrace,  and  threat- 

o/vitaiian,  ened  Constantinople.  More  than  sixty-five  thousand 

A.D.  511-516.  * ^ 

are  said  to  have  perished  in  this  rebellion.  Anastasius 
purchased  peace  by  a reconciliation  with  Rome,  the  recall  of  the 
banished  Bishops,  and  the  establishment  of  the  authority  of  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon. 


CHAPTER  V. 

JUSTINIAN  AND  THE  FIFTH  GENERAL  COUNCIL. 

Justinian  was  better  fitted  to  play  the  part  of  a lay  pope,  and 
his  reign  exhibited  a rank  growth  of  those  vices  which  spring 
Justinian,  ^om  the  mingled  seed  of  politics  and  religion.*  Like 
A.D.  527-565.  Theodosius  II.,  he  affected  the  life  of  a monk,  and 
cherished  monkish  superstitions.  Like  Constantins,  he  spent 
his  time  in  the  critical  balancing  of  dogmas.  Like  Valens,  he 

* Gibbon,  ch.  xl-xliv.  Procopius,  the  chief  authority  on  Justinian’s  reign, 
has  left  a public  history,  and  a secret ; the  latter  showing  how  little  reliance 
can  be  placed  on  the  coloring  of  the  former.  It  is  not  easy  to  decide  which 
of  the  two  pictures  is  nearer  the  truth.  The  “ Anecdotes,”  however,  present 
the  portrait  of  a demon  rather  than  of  a man,  and  the  amount  of  vituperation 
in  them  is  grossly  in  excess  of  the  credible  facts : such  portraiture  is  open  to 
grave  suspicion. 


Justinian  and  the  Fifth  General  Council.  551 

was  a ruthless  persecutor : heretics,  Jews,  Samaritans,  pagans, 
were  all  victims  in  turn  of  his  remorseless  edicts  ; if  the  Catho- 
lics escaped,  it  was  only  because  his  last  change  of  opinion 
occurred  too  near  his  death  to  allow  time  for  its  enforcement. 
His  wife,  Theodora,  whom  he  had  raised  from  the  con- 

j.  . - 1 . , Theodora, 

dition  of  an  actress  to  that  of  partner  of  his  throne,"* 
is  said  to  have  broken  somewhat  the  force  of  his  tyranny,  by 
putting  herself  at  the  head  of  the  opposition  party.^  When  he 
was  orthodox,  she  took  care  to  favor  the  Monophysites.  When 
he  addicted  himself  to  that  faction  of  the  circus  known  as  the 
Blues,  she  enrolled  herself  among  the  Greens.  Thus  the  Impe- 
rial ship  was  steadied  to  the  popular  breath,  each  of  the  great 
religious  and  political  factions  having  its  own  interest  in  it. 

A more  legitimate  source  of  popularity  was  the  munificence, 
truly  imperial,^  though  accompanied  (it  was  said)  with  an  avarice 
greedy  as  the  sea,  with  which  he  strengthened  or  Public 

adorned  the  Empire,  by  the  erection  of  castles,  cities,  ^ 

bridges,  aqueducts,  monasteries,  churches,  alms-houses,  hospi- 
tals and  other  public  works.  The  Church  of  S.  Sophia,  burnt 
by  the  mob  in  a sedition  known  as  the  Nika,  was  rebuilt  with  a 
solidity  which  remains  after  thirteen  centuries,  though  shorn  of 
the  wealth  of  beauty  with  which  it  was  originally  adorned. ^ 

His  industry  and  skill  were  still  more  signally  displayed  in 

* Even  on  the  showing  of  Procopius,  Theodora  made  an  irreproachable 
wife,  and  the  constancy  of  Justinian  is  beyond  all  question  : we  may  well 
doubt,  therefore,  whether  all  the  filth  related  of  her  early  life  on  the  stage  is 
more  worthy  of  credit  than  her  commerce  with  the  Lemures^  or  other  lies  told 
by  the  same  Procopius.  In  this  matter,  Gibbon’s  love  of  scandal  gets  the 
better  of  his  critical  faculty. 

3 Evag.  iv.  10. 

4 Procop.  Csesariensis,  De  ^dificiis  Dn.  yusiinian.  In  the  Anecdotes  it 
is  related  that  a certain  monk  saw  Justinian  swallowing  the  seas,  the  bays,  the 
rivers,  and  even  all  the  sewers  of  the  earth : so  great  was  his  avarice.  Uist. 
Arcan.  cap.  xix.  He  disgorged,  however,  as  rapidly  as  he  swallowed,  so  that 
the  seas  and  even  the  sewers  continued  to  flow  on. 

5 Gibbon  has  admirably  brought  together  the  descriptions  of  Procopius 
and  others,  ch.  xl. 


552  History  of  the  Church. 

his  reform  of  the  Roman  Laws/  In  this  great  work,  as  in  other 
Reform  of  of  liis  reign,  he  was  largely  indebted,  of 

course,  to  the  workmen  he  employed  : but  the  ability 
to  choose  good  workmen,  and  rightly  to  direct  their 
labors,  is  the  most  useful  of  imperial  talents. 

Such  a sovereign,  restless,  inquisitive,  crafty,  industrious, 
greedy  of  every  kind  of  fame,  and  in  the  main  not  unpopular. 
An  impe-  could  hardly  fail  to  stretch  to  the  utmost  his  supremacy 
rial  Pope,  spiritual,  as  well  as  temporal,  affairs.  He  was  in  a 
position,  moreover,  favorable  to  such  pretensions.  The  victo- 
ries of  his  great  general,  the  hero  Belisarius,  had  brought  the 
West  again  under  the  Greek  sway,  and  Roman  popery  was 
forced  to  yield  to  that  of  Constantinople. 

It  was  one  of  the  worst  fruits  of  the  polemical  spirit  of  the 
TeneUof  desire  to  root  out  error  was  greatly  in 

Origen  excess  of  sober  zeal  for  the  Truth  : a definition  of  the 

condemned.  . , 

Faith  was  apt  to  be  held  in  honor,  in  proportion  to 
the  anathemas  that  followed  in  its  train.  Justinian  opened  a 
new  field  for  the  exercise  of  this  spirit, ^ by  turning  men’s  atten- 
tion to  the  errors  of  the  dead.  Collecting  certain  opinions 
imputed  to  Origen,  he  anathematized  them  by  an  edict,  and 
induced  the  Roman  and  Eastern  Patriarchs  to  concur  in  his 
decree.  Tliis  opened  the  way  for  a step  of  much  greater 
moment. 

A chief  obstacle,  it  was  thought,  to  unity  among  the  East- 
erns, lay  in  the  fact  that  Chalcedon  had  shown  too  great  a ten- 
The  Three  demess  to  the  friends  of  Nestorius.  There  were  three 
Chapters.  especially  which  had  not  been  condemned  : the 

Letter  of  Theodor et  aj^ainst  Cyril' s anathemas ; the  calumnious 
^Letter  of  Idas  to  Maris  the  Persian ; ihe  rationalistic  works  of 
Theodorus  of  Mopsuestia,  The  Emperor  was  wrought  upon  to 
do  with  these  as  he  had  done  with  the  tenets  of  Origen.  The 
four  Patriarchs  of  the  East  reluctantly  concurred.  The  West 
was  more  refractory : for  it  was  suspected  that  the  condemna- 

^ See  Gibbon’s  noble  chapter  on  this  subject,  ch.  xliv. 
y Evag.  iv.  38. 


yustinian  and  the  Fifth  General  Council.  553 

tion  of  the  Three  Chapters,”  as  they  were  called,  was  a covert 
attack  upon  the  credit  of  Chalcedon.  An  African  Synod  refused 
outright  to  anathematize  the  dead.”  Vigilius  of  Rome  was 
at  first  equally  decided.  But  coming  to  Constanti-  p^pe 
nople,  in  obedience  to  an  order  from  the  Emperor,  he 
was  partly  forced,  partly  wheedled,  into  a more  complaisant 
frame  of  mind.  After  many  vacillations,  he  anathematized 
the  Three  Chapters,  putting  in  a salvo  for  the  honor  of  Chal- 
cedon, and  asked  for  a General  Council,  that  the  act  might  be 
approved. 

The  Bishops  were  brought  together  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five,  among  whom  were  five  Africans,  the 
only  prelates  from  the  West.^  Vigilius  was  ill  at  ease, 
and  bn  the  plea  of  sickness  declined  to  be  present.  cluncu. 
Every  breeze  that  came  from  the  West  bore  to  his  ears 
the  rumors  of  rebellion.  After  the  fourth  ^‘conference,”  or 
session,  the  Council  having  reached  and  anathematized  the 
writings  of  Theodorus,  he  attempted  to  interpose  with  a “ Con- 
stitutum,”  condemning  certain  opinions  without  mentioning 
names,  and  forbidding  the  Bishops  to  discuss  the  question 
further.  The  document,  it  is  probable,  never  reached  the 
Council.  The  Bishops,  at  all  events,  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  it,  but  condemned  the  Three  Chapters  : inas- 
much, however,  as  Theodoret  and  Ibas  had  repented 
of  their  error  and  had  been  absolved  at  Chalcedon,  their  per- 
sons were  excepted  from  the  sentence  passed  upon  their  opin- 
ions. Vigilius,  a few  months  later,  allowed  his  scruples  to  give 
way  to  Imperial  persuasion,  ascribing  his  previous  obstinacy  to 
the  instigation  of  the  devil. 

Little  good  resulted,  so  far  as  the  East  was  concerned.  The 
Monophysites  were  not  appeased.  The  Origenians,  a name  that 
still  applied  to  some  of  the  monks  of  Palestine,  were  Effect  of 
deeply  aggrieved  : for  the  Council  had  either  ex-  Council. 
pressly,  or  implicitly,  anathematized  their  tenets.  In  the  West, 


The  Three 
Chapters 
condemned. 


2 Mansi,  ix. ; Hardoiiin,  iii, 


24 


55  4 History  of  the  Church. 

there  were  hot  disputes  and  formidable  schisms.  Milan  and 
Schisms  in  Ravenna  separated  from  Rome  : Aquileia  and  the 
the  West,  Bishops  refused  to  be  reconciled  for  about  a 

century  and  a half. 

Justinian  became  a convert,  in  his  old  age,  to  the  heresy  of 
Justinian  Incorrupticolse  and  putting  forth  an  edict,  pre- 
a Heretic,  persccutc  in  their  behalf.  Anastasius,  the 

Antiochean  Patriarch,  made  ready  for  resistance.  The  crisis  was 
averted  by  the  sudden  death  of  the  Imperial  heresiarch.  His 
successors,  the  well-meaning  but  weak  Justin,  the  able 
Successors,  and  virtuous  Tiberius,  the  unfortunate  Maurice,*®  were 

A.D.  565-610. 

too  much  absorbed  in  secular  troubles  to  meddle  much 
with  theology.  The  same  was  true  of  Phocas,  the  monster  and 
usurper.  Heraclius,  in  six  victorious  campaigns  worthy  of  the 
Heraciius,  hest  days  of  Rome,  broke  the  power  of  Chosroes  the 
A.D.  610.641.  crowned  his  triumphs  by  the  redemption 

of  innumerable  captives  and  by  the  restoration  of  the  Wood  of 
the  true  Cross  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  Jerusa- 
lem. But  the  effort  had  drained  the  resources  of  the  Empire 
and  the  manly  virtues  of  the  Emperor.  Persia,  the  rival  king- 
dom, was  equally  exhausted.  The  conflict  of  ages  between 
Greek  and  Persian  power,  a conflict  which  Rome  had  inherited 
and  stubbornly  continued,  ended  by  leaving  both  a prey  to  a 
new  and  strange  foe.  For  it  was  in  the  latter  days  of  Heraclius 
that  the  ^Gittle  horn’'  appeared  in  a corner  of  his  dominions, 
Pi^st  which  was  destined  ere  long  to  threaten  the  whole 
ifthf^  world.  While  the  Emperor  triumphed”  at  Constan- 
Saracens.  ^inople  or  Jerusalem,  an  obscure  town  on  the  confines 
of  Syria  was  pillaged  by  the  Saracens,  and  they  cut  in  pieces 
some  troops  who  advanced  to  its  relief : an  ordinary  and  trifling 

9 Evag.  iv.  39-41. 

In  the  reign  of  Maurice,  Evagrius  finished  his  History,  bringing  it 
down  to  the  year  594.  The  inflated  style  of  this  production,  and  its  excessive 
fondness  for  the  marvellous,  are  counterbalanced  by  the  honesty  and  piety 
apparent  in  every  page. 

Gibbon,  end  of  chap,  xlvi. 


Monothelite  Heresy,  555 

occurrence,  had  it  not  been  the  prelude  of  a mighty  revolution. 
These  robbers  were  the  apostles  of  Mohammed  : their  fanatic 
valor  had  emerged  from  the  desert ; and  in  the  last  eight  years 
of  his  reign,  Heraclius  lost  to  the  Arabs  the  same  provinces 
which  he  had  rescued  from  the  Persians.  ^ * 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MONOTHELITE  HERESY  AND  THE  SIXTH  GENERAL  COUNCIL. 

The  danger  from  this  quarter  did  not  prevent  the  Emperor  from 
engaging  in  one  more  attempt  to  stay  the  tottering  ark  j^octrine 
of  religion.  The  end  of  his  reign  witnessed  a new  ^ of  the 
effort  to  conciliate  heresy,  and  consequently  a new 
heresy  to  be  condemned.  By  the  advice  of  the  Patriarch  Ser- 
gius, he  put  forth  an  edict  affirming  the  existence  of  but  one 
Will  in  Christ, 

It  was  the  last  link  of  a long  chain  of  efforts,  beginning  with 
Apollinaris,  or  rather  with  the  Docetae,  to  find  something  in 
which  the  Manhood  assumed  by  our  Lord  might  differ  Mature  of 
in  nature  from  the  Humanity  inherited  from  Adam, 

Sin  only  excepted,  He  was  made  in  all  things  like  unto  us.  But 
‘‘sin’'  might  be  thought  identical  with  the  sinful  will  in  man  ; 
and  the  “sinful  will”  might  easily  be  confounded  with  the 
human  yiWS.,  To  deny  “sin,”  therefore,  in  Christ,  seemed  to 
carry  with  it  a denial  of  the  “ human  will  ” in  Christ.  Further- 
more, it  was  argued,  the  will  pertains  to  man’s  personality  rather 
than  to  his  nature."  When  our  Lord,  therefore,  assumed  man’s 

• * For  subtle  discussions  of  this  subject  see  documents  in  Mansi  Concilia, 
Sixth  Gen.  Council. 


556 


History  of  the  Church. 


nature,  He  did  not  take  his  will.  The  will  of  the  Word  acted 
in  and  through  the  two  Natures,  by  what  was  callec  a theandric 
operation. 

It  was  a theological  trap  ingeniously  contrived ; and,  baited 
as  it  was  with  the  hope  of  conciliation,  most  of  the  Easterns 
greedily  fell  into  it.  The  Patriarchs  of  Antioch  and 
Patriarchs  Alexandria  were  among  the  number.  The  latter  of 

deceived.  ^ 

these,  Cyrus,  was  enabled  on  the  strength  of  it  to 
reconcile  to  the  Church  one  of  the  Monophysite  sects.  But 
Sofhronius  ^ophronius,  a monk,  afterwards  Patriarch  of  Jerusa- 
soundsan  lem,  saw  the  danger  and  sounded  the  alarm.  He 

A larm. 

showed  that  to  deny  the  human  will  in  Christ,  or  to 
deny  even  the  natural  operation  of  that  will,  was  to  detract  from 
His  perfect  Humanity  and  to  bring  in  the  error  of  Apollinaris 
under  another  form.  The  tide  of  opinion  soon  began  to  turn. 
Sergius  found  it  necessary  to  look  for  a new  ally,  and  wrote, 
Honorius  Oil  the  subject,  to  Honorius  of  Rome.  Honorius 
of  Rome,  answered  by  a letter,  in  which  he  committed  himself 
to  the  heresy,  deprecating,  however,  all  further  discussion.  But 
the  Church  by  this  time  was  thoroughly  aroused.  Men  stood 
forth  on  every  side  to  impugn  the  new  dogma.  Some  who  at 
first  had  readily  received  it  showed  themselves  eager  to  retrace 
their  steps. 

Within  nine  years  after  the  issuing  of  his  first  edict,  Herac- 
lius  found  it  necessary  to  modify  his  decree.  He  put  forth  the 
Ecthesis,  so  called,  declaring  the  twofold  operation,  to 
be  an  open  question.  But  by  this  time  the  orthodox 
instinct  of  old  Rome  was  once  more  awakened.  Pope 
John  IV.  rejected  the  Ecthesis,  and  girded  himself  for  battle. 

Nine  years  later  still,  Constans  II.  framed  a new  edict  called 
the  Typus,  prohibiting  controversy.  He  might  as  well  have  for- 
The  Typus,  bidden  the  winds  to  blow.  Theodore  of  Rome  breaks 
A.D.  648.  communion  with  Constantinople  ; and,  somewhat 

later,  Martin  I.,  in  a Roman  Synod,  condemns  the  Ecthesis 
and  Typus,  and  boldly  anathematizes  the  Monothelite  leaders. 
This  was  more  than  Constans  could  bear.  Pope  Martin  was 


The 

Ecthesis, 
A.D.  639. 


Monothelite  Heresy. 


557 


seized  by  the  order  of  the  Emperor ; brought  to  Constanti- 
nople ; thrown  into  a dungeon ; convicted,  through  cmei 
hired  witnesses,  of  treason  and  conspiracy ; and  finally, 
after  innumerable  insults,  was  banished  to  the  Cher- 
sonesus,  where  he  died.  Others  of  the  orthodox  leaders  were 
treated  still  more  outrageously.  They  were  scourged,  deprived 
of  their  tongues  and  their  right  hands,  conducted  in  mockery 
through  the  streets,  and  ignominiously  hurried  into  exile. 

While  controversy  thus  raged,  the  Saracens  were  wresting 
from  the  Emperors  the  fairest  provinces  of  their  domin-  saracen 
ions : or  rather,  it  required  little  wresting  ; for  tyranny 
and  corruption  had  long  since  done  their  work,  and  the  tree  was 
no  sooner  touched  than  the  rotten  fruit  fell.  Jerusalem,  under 
the  Patriarch  Sophronius,  maintained  its  old  character  ^ 

^ ^ Jerusalem 

for  obstinate  resistance  but  after  a siege  of  four  taken, 

. . A.D.  637. 

months,  in  which  not  a day  passed  without  fighting,  it 
was  forced  to  submit  to  a yoke  heavier  than  it  had  ever  borne 
before.  Under  the  same  yoke  it  has  continued  ever  since ; with 
the  exception  of  eighty-eight  years  of  Latin  occupation  during 
the  Crusades.  Damascus  had  fallen  four  years  before  Jerusalem  : 
Tyre,  Caesarea,  and  numberless  other  places  submitted  within  a 
few  years  after.  By  the  middle  of  the  century,  Alex-  Alexandria, 
andria  and  Egypt,  with  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  passed  un- 
der  the  yoke  of  Islam.  The  Empire,  in  fact,  was  threatened  in 
every  part,  and  had  little  to  oppose  to  the  invader,  save  the 
passive  resistance  of  mere  weight  and  bulk.  Constan- 

L - , T ° Constanti- 

tinople,  however,  was  saved  by  the  strength  of  its  nopie  saved, 
walls,  by  the  courage  of  despair,  and  by  the  timely 
invention  of  the  terrible  Greek  fire.^  The  conquerors  were  not 
only  checked  for  awhile,  but  were  forced  to  do  homage  for  their 
possessions  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  by  the  payment  of  a nominal 
tribute. 


*Ockley’s  history  of  the  Saracens  ; Gibbon,  chap.  li.  lii. 

3 The  timeliness  of  those  discoveries  and  inventions  which  have  placed 
Christian  civilization  so  far  in  advance  of  all  others,  might  form  the  title  of  an 
interesting  chapter  in  the  Providential  History  of  the  World. 


558  History  of  the  Church. 

Constantine  Pogonatus,  under  whom  this  last  event  hap- 
pened, was  orthodox  in  his  views,  and  the  Patriarchs  by 
Sixth  whom  he  was  guided  had  begun  to  grow  weary  of  a 
bootless  controversy.  A sixth  General  Council  was 
A.D.  680.  convened.  Among  the  higher  prelates,  Macarius 

of  Antioch  alone  stood  up  for  the  now  disreputable  doctrine  of 
the  One  Will  in  Christ.  He  was  assisted  by  a monk  named 
Polycronius,  who  offered  to  raise  a dead  man  to  life,  in  proof 
of  the  dogma.  The  Council  accepted  his  offer,  and  a corpse 
was  brought  in.  The  monk  failed  in  his  experiment,  but  was 
not  convinced  of  his  error.  The  Synod  deposed  Macarius,  ex- 
communicated the  monk,  and  anathematized  the  names  of  Ser- 
gius, Pope  Honorius,^  and  other  Monothelite  leaders.  Finally 
the  Bishops,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  sixty, 

Two  Wills^  ^ ^ ^ ^ 

Two  ojiera- signed  a declaration  that  ^‘in  Christ  there  are  two 

tions. 

natural  Wills,  and  two  Operations,  without  division, 
change,  confusion : that  the  human  Will  does  not  conflict 
with  the  Divine,  but  follows  it,  and  in  all  things  is  subjected 
to  it.’’ 

About  ten  years  later,  under  the  reign  of  Justinian  II.,  a 
larger  assembly,  held  in  Trullo,  in  the  domed  chapel  of  the 
Palace,  and  hence  known  as  the  Trullan  (or,  as  it  is 
Truiianor  otherwise  called,  the  Quinisext)  Council,  confirmed 

Quinisext  . ^ ^ 

Council,  the  decrees  of  the  six  Ecumenical  Synods,  and  put 
forth  one  hundred  and  eleven  canons,  including 
eighty-five  attributed  to  the  Apostles.  These  became  law  in 


^ Pope  Honorius  has  been  excused  on  every  possible  ground : so  far, 
however,  as  the  question  of  infallibility  is  concerned,  no  argument  can  shake 
the  fact  that  the  Sixth  Council  believed  a Pope  might  err  in  matters  of  faith, 
and  that  one  Pope  at  least  had  so  erred.  It  is  equally  certain  that  some  of  the 
successors  of  Honorius  took  the  same  view  as  the  Council.  For  an  ample 
discussion  of  the  subject,  see  Instruct.  Historicce-Theolog.  lib.  v; 

Pagi,  Breviarium  PP.  Rom.  S.  Agatho.  Pontif. ; Natalis  Alexandr.  Scec. 
Septim.  Dissert,  ii.  [See  also  the  copious  literature  that  has  sprung  out  of 
the  so-called  CEcumenical  Council  at  Rome,  which  in  1870  professed  to  define 
the  Personal  Infallibility  of  the  Pope.  See  also  Appendix. — Editor.] 


The  Sixth  General  Council, 


559 


the  Eastern  Church.  In  the  West,  Pope  Sergius  III.  refused  to 
sign  them,  and  the  growing  estrangement  between  Rome  and 
Constantinople  was  thereby  increased. 

Not  long  after,  an  attempt  was  made  to  revive  the  Mono- 
thelite  heresy,  and  the  Emperor  Philippicus  induced  a servile 
Synod  to  condemn  the  Sixth  Council.  But  it  proved  xhe 

a little  cloud  which  soon  passed  over.  The  error  lin- 
gered  for  some  centuries  among  the  inhabitants  of  Libanus,  an 
offshoot  from  the  old  Phoenician  stock,  who  in  the  beginning 
of  the  eighth  century  were  elevated  to  civil  and  religious  in- 
dependence by  their  Patriarch  John  Maron,  and  successfully 
resisted  the  Moslem  yoke.  In  the  twelfth  century  they  sub- 
mitted to  the  See  of  Rome. 


Thus  ends  a long  war  of  four  centuries,  a continuous  battle 
for  the  Faith,  in  which  the  Greek  and  Latin  and  Oriental  mind, 
excited  to  an  almost  preternatural  heat,  had  assailed,  xhe  Work 
and  defended,  every  imaginable  point  at  which  the  pushedTy 
Creed  could  be  attacked,  and  with  every  kind  of 
weapon  that  human  passion  or  human  subtlety  could  Councils. 
supply.  If  we  look  at  the  mere  details  of  the  strife,  faith  is 
shocked  by  the  weakness,  waywardness,  and  wickedness  of  re- 
ligious men.  If  we  look  at  the  result,  the  Creed  stands  out 
before  us,  with  a solidity,  symmetry  and  consistency  which,  but 
for  the  long  war  against  it,  could  hardly  have  been  appreciated, 
but  which,  in  the  sequel  of  the  history  of  Christendom,  at  least 
in  its  more  living  parts,  has  been  universally  acknowledged. 
With  such  a work  accomplished,  it  is  idle  to  criticise  the  way 
in  which  the  work  was  done.  The  saints  of  the  period  of  the 
six  General  Councils  were  called  to  labor  for  the  Faith  : we 
have  entered  into  the  fruit  of  their  labors.  Where  The  Faith 
they  were  obliged  to  contend  earnestly,^'  we  have 
little  else  to  do  than  to  receive  and  enjoy.  It  can  be  put  down 
to  their  credit,  and  it  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  said  of  the  men 
of  any  period,  that  having  fought  a good  fight  and  finished 


56o 


History  of  the  Church. 

their  course,  they  kept  the  Faith,  The  defects  that  a critic^  may 
discern  in  their  manner  of  fighting  or  of  working,  may  serve 
indeed  as  a warning,  to  deter  us  from  similar  errors,  but  are 
more  useful  still  as  an  encouragement ; showing,  as  they  do, 
that  the  work  of  God  is  not  defeated  by  human  weakness,  but 
that  age  after  age,  and  period  after  period,  accomplishes  its 
appointed  task : that  however  much  of  the  cheaper  material, 
the  wood,  hay,  stubble,  may  perish  in  a Divine  purgation,  yet 
something  true  and  costly,  costly  of  sweat  and  toil  and  treasure 
and  blood,  will  always  be  found  to  remain,  the  contribution 
which  each  age  makes  to  the  work  of,  perhaps,  countless  ages. 

5 The  sneers  of  Gibbon  and  the  half-sneers  of  his  Christian  imitators,  in 
reference  to  the  history  of  controversy,  amount  simply  to  this  : that,  in  the 
defence  and  confirmation  of  the  Gospel,  there  was  a vast  expenditure  of  hu- 
man blood  and  brain.  But  we  may  ask,  looking  at  the  question  from  a merely 
worldly  point  of  view,  how  could  blood  and  brain  have  been  spent  to  better 
purpose  ? Gibbon  replies,  in  substance,  that  they  might  have  been  devoted  to 
the  defence  of  the  Empire  against  the  outside  Barbarians.  The  monks  might 
have  been  turned  into  soldiers,  the  priests  into  politicians  and  sophists,  or, 
perhaps,  mandarins.  In  short,  the  Western  world,  like  the  Eastern,  might 
have  had  its  China.  We  may  well  doubt  whether  the  world  in  general  would 
have  been  benefited  by  the  exchange.  [It  is  their  glory  that  with  all  their 
might  they  fought  for  the  Faith.  The  mode  of  their  warfare  was  naturally 
that  which  was  readily  supplied  by  the  civilization  of  the  age  in  which  they 
lived.  Our  higher  civilization  has  made  us  so  refined  that  we  hardly  care  to 
fight  for  the  Faith  at  all.  Moreover,  the  building  of  the  outer  walls  is  far 
rougher  work  than  the  internal  finish  of  the  palace  chambers. — Editor.] 


[The  following  brief  summary  of  the  leading  facts  in  the  case  of  Pope 
Honorius  is  taken  from  a fragment  in  Dr.  Mahan’s  handwriting,  supplemented 
by  the  Editor  from  the  learned  and  able  pamphlet  of  P.  Le  Page  Renouf  on 
The  Condemnation  of  Pope  Honorius  (London,  Longmans,  1868),  and  other 
sources.] 

The  Emperor  Heraclius,  hoping  to  reconcile  the  Monophysites,  came  to  an 
understanding  with  their  leaders  to  accept  a compromise  which  asserted  the 
doctrine  of  only  one  Divine-human  energy  {kvepyeia)  or  operation,  and  of  one 
will  in  Christ. 

Sophronius,  an  acute  monk  of  Palestine,  afterwards  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
asserted  on  the  contrary,  two  wills  and  two  operations  of  Christ, — the  Divine 
and  the  human.  He  refers  the  case  to  Sergius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople. 

Sergius  refuses  to  assert  one  will,  or  two  wills ; or  one  operation  or  two 
operations ; but  affirms  that  the  one  Jesus  Christ  kvepyeiv  ra  re  Bela  koX 
avdp^TTiva.  He  objects  also  to  two  operations,  as  6vo  dsHjfiaTa  evavriug  npbg 
aXkrjka  e^ov^^  etc.  Sergius  writes  his  view  of  the  case  fully,  in  a “ dog- 
matic epistle,”  to  Honorius  of  Rome,  asking  his  judgment  in  the  matter. 

Honorius,  having  received  the  letters  both  of  Sophronius  and  Sergius, 
replies,  fully  approving  the  doctrinal  statements  of  Sergius,  and  confirming  his 
arguments  by  many  more  of  the  same  kind.  He  decides  authoritatively,  for 
the  instruction  and  knowledge  of  those  who  are  in  perplexity,”  that  the  two-fold 
operation  is  a **  scandal,”  a “new  invention,”  and  that  Sophronius  “should 
not  persist  in  preaching  the  formula  of  two  operations  ; ” affirming  moreover 
that  he  makes  “ one  Confession,”  and  agrees  “ in  one  spirit,  v/ith  a like 
teaching  of  the  Faith,”  with  Sergius. 

The  doctrine  of  Sophronius  was,  from  the  first,  carefully  guarded  against 
the  misconstructions  under  cover  of  which  attempts  have  been  made  to 
excuse  Honorius.  He  affirmed  that  one  Christ,  abiding  inseparably  and  incon- 
fusk  in  two  Natures,  performed  truly  and  wisely,  and  without  stain  of  sin, 
everything  that  belongs  to  our  human  nature.  These  assertions  w’ere  against 


562  Appendix. 

the  errors,  Firsts  that  what  he  suffered  in  the  flesh,  he  suffered  involuntarily^ 
under  compulsion^  in  bonds^  etc. ; Secondly^  that  the  Divine  Nature  in  any  way 
overpowered  or  anticipated  the  human,  not  allowing  it  time  to  act ; Thirdly^ 
that  the  Incarnation  should  be  made  to  appear  merely  nominal.  Sophronius 
also  explicitly  asserted  the  One  Person  of  Christ,  etc. 

In  the  Sixth  General  Council  there  were  publicly  read,  and  critically 
examined,  copies  of  the  Synodical  Epistles  of  Sophronius,  and  of  the  “ Dog- 
matic Epistles  ” of  Sergius  and  Honorius ; and  before  being  acted  on,  these 
copies  were  carefully  compared  with  the  originals,  in  the  Chartophylacium  at 
Constantinople,  and  were  found  to  be  correct.  Finally,  the  doctrines  of  both 
Sergius  and  Honorius  were  condemned,  rejected,  and  anathematized,  as  heret- 
ical ; and  they,  with  several  others,  were  anathematized  by  name.  The  doctrine 
of  Sophronius  was  at  the  same  time  approved  as  agreeing  with  the  true  Faith, 
and  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles  and  Fathers, — orthodox  and  salutary 
to  the  Holy  Catholic  Church;  and  his  name  was  inserted  in  the  diptychs. 
(N.  B. — At  the  end  of  Actio  XHI.,  the  Council  expressly  declares,  that 
Sergius  and  Honorius  are  condemned,  not  only  on  information  given  concern- 
ing them,  but  after  diligently  comparing  the  writings  of  them  both.) 

The  Council  was  not  content  with  anathematizing  Sergius  and  Honorius 
once.  They  repeated  the  anathema  a second  time  in  Actio  XYIIL,  in  the 
Synodical  Definition;  a third  time,  in  the  same  Actio  ^ in  the  Exclamatio  to 
the  Emperor ; a fourth  time,  in  the  prophonetic  or  acclamatory  sermon  to  the 
same ; a fifth  time,  in  the  Synodal  Letter  to  Pope  Agatho  of  Rome : and 
in  each  of  these  five  acts,  the  Papal  legates  took  part,  and  signed  their 
names.  A sixth  repetition  occurs  in  the  Edict  of  the  Emperor,  embodying 
the  action  of  the  Council.  Pope  Leo  H.  then  took  up  the  work  of  anathe- 
matizing his  predecessor  as  a heretic.  He  first  of  all  acknowledges  the  receipt 
of  the  ‘‘Acts”  of  the  Council,  and  adds  that  he  concurs  in  anathema 
against  Honorius  by  name,  “ who,  instead  of  laboring  to  keep  the  Apostolic 
Church  pure  by  the  teaching  of  Apostolic  tradition,  suffered  it,  the  immacu- 
late, to  be  polluted  through  his  profane  betrayal.”  In  his  letter  to  the  Spanish 
Count  Simplicius,  age  in  and  yet  again  in  his  letters  to  the  Spanish  Bishops, 
and  in  another  letter  to  the  Spanish  king  Ervigius,  the  same  anathema  for 
heresy  is  reiterated  against  Honorius.  In  the  life  of  Leo  H.  by  Anastasius 
the  Librarian,  the  same  fact  is  repeated  once  more.  The  anathema  was 
further  repeated  by  the  Quinisext  Council ; then  again  by  the  Second  Council 
of  Nice,  and  also  by  that  which  Rome  acknowledges  as  the  Eighth  General 
Council, — this  last  being  the  most  significant,  since,  as  Mr.  Renouf  says, 
“ its  proceedings  were  entirely  carried  on  under  Roman  influence,”  whereas 
the  sixth  and  seventh  General  Councils  were  Oriental.  Nor  was  this  all. 
The  anathema  of  Honorius  as  a heretic  was  repeated,  for  ages,  by  every 
successor  of  Leo  II.  in  the  See  of  Rome,  at  his  accession ; and  it  was  incor- 


Appendix.  563 

porated  into  the  Breviary,  so  that  the  condemnation  of  Honorius  for  the 
Monothelite  heresy  was  repeated  annually  for  a thousand  years  by  every  priest 
and  prelate  who  made  faithful  use  of  his  Breviary.  It  would  really  seem  as 
if  there  never  had  been,  since  the  world  began,  a more  notoriously  or  more 
thoroughly  anathematized  heretic  than  Pope  Honorius  of  Rome. 

Against  all  this,  the  advocates  of  Honorius  either  deny  the  fact  of  his  con- 
demnation for  heresy,  or  else  they  dispute  the  equity  of  it. 

As  to  the  fact,  the  apologists  of  Pope  Honorius,  says  Renouf,  “ constantly 
hesitate  between  solutions  which  are  asserted  to  be  indisputable,  but  which 
are  nevertheless  subversive  of  each  other,  Honorius,  it  is  said,  was  unjustly 
condemned ; he  was  not  condemned ; he  could  not  have  been  condemned, 
and  all  the  documents,  Greek  and  Latin,  acts  of  Councils  and  Pope’s  letters, 
asserting  the  condemnation,  are  forgeries ; he  was  condemned  only  as  a 
private  Doctor.^  The  heretical  letters  ascribed  to  him  were  forged  by  the 
Monothelites,  to  countenance  their  heresy;  they  were  forged  by  orthodox 
Greeks  to  bring  disgrace  upon  a Pope;  his  letters  are  perfectly  orthodox. 
Some  of  these  solutions  are  out  of  date  ; other  solutions,  quite  as  irreconcilable 
with  facts,  are  still  flourishing.”  As  to  “ forgeries,”  Mr.  Renouf  says  : “ It  is 
idle  to  waste  words  on  this  part  of  the  subject.  No  one  now  doubts  the  genu- 
ineness of  any  of  the  documents  bearing  upon  the  question How- 

ever plausible  such  assertions  may  have  been  in  former  days,  they  are  now 
destitute  of  interest,  and  none  but  grossly  ignorant  persons  could  have  recourse 
to  them.”  Perrone  says  that  there  is  no  room  for  even  a slight  suspicion  of 
either  adulteration  or  forgery. 

The  attempts  to  explain  away  the  indisputable  condemnation  are  equally 
unhappy. 

1.  Turrecremata  held  that  in  this  matter  both  Popes  and  Councils  had 
fallen  intoUpror  in  dogmatic  fact,  Bellarmine  attributes  to  the  Council 
“ intolerable  error  and  impudence.”  Baronius  says  that  “ nothing  could  be 
imagined  more  wicked,  more  impudent,  or  more  foolish,”  than  their  conduct. 
“ This  is  respectful  language,”  says  Renouf,  ‘‘  to  use  about  an  Ecumenical 
Council  approved  by  the  Pope;”  or  rather,  three  Ecumenical  Councils 
approved  by  a long  line  of  Popes. 

2.  De  Maistre’s  idea  that  the  condemnation  of  a Pope  was  a piece  of 
Greek  impudence  is  not  new  ; but  how  explain  the  consent  of  the  Papal  leg- 
ates, and  Pope  Leo’s  confirmation  of  the  Council  and  his  promulgation  of  its 
acts  ? 

3.  As  to  the  justice  of  the  condemnation,  he  was  condemned  for  heresy. 
“ It  is  a simple  untruth  to  say  that  he  was  condemned  for  neglect,  criminal 
remissness,  and  tolerating  heretics  instead  of  excommunicating  them.  It  is  as 
a heretic  that  he  was  anathematized  over  and  over  again.”  His  first  letter 
was  condemned  as  proving  that  he  followed  the  mind  of  Sergius  in  all 


564  Appendix. 

things.”  His  “ second  letter  was  ordered  to  be  burnt  as  impious  and  soul- 
destroying The  Monothclites  appealed  to  the  authority  of  Honorius, 


as  one  who  agreed  with  them, — the  Council  no  less  decidedly  declares  that 
Honorius  agreed  with  them,  and  anathematizes  him  on  this  account.” 

4.  The  question  as  to  whether  he  was  condemned  as  a private  Doctor  or  as 
a Pope  is  of  more  interest  to  Romish  theologians  than  to  us  ; and  we  refer  all 
who  would  examine  it  further  to  Renouf,  a singularly  learned  and  candid 
Roman  Catholic  himself,  who  declares  it  to  be  “ a mockery  to  consider  the 
Pope’s  solemn,  public,  and  most  earnest  reply  to  the  Eastern  Patriarchs  other- 
wise than  as  ex  cathedra.^'*  The  question  is  also  treated  with  great  learning 
and  spirit  in  Janus,  and  by  Bishop  Maret,  and  many  of  the  other  brilliant  and 
powerful  writers  who  have  been  called  into  activity  by  the  Vatican  Council 
of  1870. 

See  also  Scene  H.  of  the  Comedy  of  Canonization  in  Vol.  III.  of  Dr. 
Mahan’s  Works^  among  his  Miscellaneous  Writings, 


INDEX 


Abbot,  478. 

Abdas,  474. 

Abgar,  34. 

Abraxas,  154. 

Abyssinia,  301. 

evangelized,  474. 

Acacians,  417,  427,  429. 

Acacius,  of  Csesarea,  417. 

Acacius,  Patriarch,  advises  Henoticon^ 
458. 

Acephali^  548. 

Acesius,  243,  285. 

Achaia,  306. 

Achillas,  of  Alexandria,  298. 

absolves  and  promotes  Arius,  298. 

Actors,  233. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  35,  84. 

Adam’s  salvation,  156,  162. 

Adjuration  of  Irenseus,  186. 

JE\i2i  Capitolina,  46. 

JEon  system,  149. 

Aerius,  449. 

iEschines,  168. 

Aetians,  418,  430. 

Aetius,  417. 

African  Church,  North,  209-243,  301. 
character  of  the  People,  209. 
when  evangelized,  210. 
evangelized  from  Rome,  211. 
overrun  with  vices,  228. 
early  decay,  2II. 


93,  327. 

abused,  227,  327,  328. 

Agrippinus,  21 1,  224. 

Ahriman,  149,  157. 

Alban,  Martyr,  344. 

Alcibiades,  Ascetic  Confessor,  128. 
Alemannif  253. 

Alexander,  Martyr,  129. 

Alexander,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  192, 

298. 367. 38s.  392- 

his  circular  epistle,  378. 
seventy  letters  in  one  month,  378. 
dies,  402. 

Alexander,  of  Jerusalem,  203, 247, 302. 
his  Library,  302. 
he  upholds  Origen,  302. 
Alexander,  of  Constantinople,  406. 
Alexandria,  a centre  of  learning  and 
Church  life,  194. 

Arian  reign  of  terror  in,  427,  428. 
Council  at,  445. 

Alexandrine  School,  192. 

Episcopate,  peculiarity,  192. 
Allegorical  interpretation  of  SS.,  84. 
Alogi^  168. 

Alypius,  440,  441. 

Ambrose,  of  Milan,  on  the  True  Cross, 

390. 

made  Bishop,  459,  460. 
on  a Western  Council,  470. 
sketch  of  life  of,  494-504. 


566 


Index. 


Ambrose,  of  Milan,  hostility  of  Justina 
to,  495. 

and  the  See  of  Sirmium,  496. 
his  contest  with  Symmachus,  496. 
contest  about  the  Basilicas,  497- 
500. 

SS.  Gervasius  and  Protasius,  500. 
Theodosius  sent  out  of  the  Chan- 
cel, 501. 

case  of  a Synagogue,  501,  502. 
massacre  at  Thessalonica,  502, 503. 
penance  of  Theodosius,  503. 
restoration  of  Theodosius,  503. 
Ammias,  102. 

Ammon,  478, 479. 

so  modest,  479. 

Ammonius,  pelts  Orestes,  518. 
a martyr,  519. 

Ammonius  Saccas,  141,  194. 
Amphitheatre,  description  of,  122,  126. 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  12,  96. 
Anastasia,  The,  461. 

Anastasius,  presbyter,  510. 

Anastasius,  Emperor,  549. 
deposes  both  sides,  549. 
Antiochean  Trisagion,  549. 
terrible  riots,  549. 
resigns  and  is  restored,  549. 
Anastasius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  554. 
Anathema,  meaning  of  the  word,  522. 
Anatolius,  mathematician,  284. 
Anatolius,  of  Constantinople,  536. 
Anchorets,  249,  292,  293,  479. 

Ancyra,  Canon  of,  161. 

Council  of,  427. 

Andrew,  S.,  33. 

“ Angelic  life,**  477. 

Anicetus,  155. 

Anomoeans,  417. 

Anomoion,  418. 

Antelucani,  268,  326. 

Antichrist,  signs  of,  213. 


Antidicomarians,  450. 

Antinous  deified,  113. 

Antioch  evangelized,  15,  20. 

Church  and  School  of,  278-286. 
three  Councils  at,  282. 
schism  in,  403,  446. 
schism  increased  by  Damasus,452. 
schism  at  the  Council  of  Constan- 
tinople, 466,  467. 

Antoninus,  Arrius,  112. 

I Antoninus  Pius,  115. 

Antony,  Father  of  Monachism, 293-296. 
his  visions,  426,  477. 
his  departure,  426. 
ignorant  of  Greek,  543. 

Apelles,  156. 

Apocalypse,  Altar-window,  84. 

doubted  by  Dionysius,  289. 
Apocryphal  Gospels,  160, 1 61. 
Apollinaris,  writes  against  Montanism, 
178. 

Apollinaris,  Heretic,  449. 

a friend  of  S.  Athanasius,  449. 
Apollonius,  of  Tyana,  142,  341. 
Apollonius,  martyr,  143. 

Apollonius,  writes  against  Montanism, 
17.8. 

Apollo*s  Oracle  dumb,  341. 

Apollos,  19. 

Apologists,  Age  of  the,  140. 

Apostles,  the  Twelve,  tarry  in  Jerusa- 
lem, 10. 

separation  of  the,  16. 
all  power  given  to  them,  60. 
Brothers,  colleagues,  peers,  6l. 
the  abiding  Order,  61. 
one  College,  63. 

Apostolate,  Second  growth  of  the,  63. 

communicated,  67. 

Apostolical  Canons,  161. 

Apostolical  Constitutions,  75. 
Apostolics,  162. 


Index. 


567 


Apotactites,  162. 

Appeal  to  nearest  Bishops,  263. 
Apuleius,  226. 

Aquarians,  162. 

Aquileia,  Council  at,  470. 

separated  from  Rome,  554. 
Arabia,  301.  * 

Archimandrite,  478. 

Archons,  154. 

Arian  Court  Party,  41 1. 

Arianism,  an  alien  mind,  373. 

Platonic,  374. 
its  tendency  Heathen,  375. 
sacred  Virgins  teach  it,  377. 
five  divisions  of  its  History,  412. 
Ariminum,  Council  of,  426,  427,  429, 
430- 

general  lapse  from  the  Faith,  429. 
retreat  in  two  directions,  429. 
Aristotelian  method,  284. 

Arius,  excommunicated,  297,  298. 

Peter,  martyr,  warns  the  Church 
against  him,  297. 
absolved,  and  set  over  the  Bau- 
calis,  298. 

not  elected  Bishop,  298. 
his  Doctrine,  367,  368. 
cautious  statements,  369. 
logic,  369. 

appeal  to  Scripture,  371. 
higher  and  lower  sense,  371,  372. 
personal  description  of,  373. 
his  character,  374. 
his  training,  374,  375. 
condemned  in  Synod,  377. 
his  Thalia  and  hymns,  379. 
boasting  and  rioting,  381. 
condemned  and  exiled,  389. 
recalled  and  in  favor,  402. 
repelled  from  Communion,  403. 
received  at  Jerusalem,  405. 
his  Triumph,  406. 


Arius,  his  sudden  Death,  407. 

effect  on  the  people,  407. 

Arles,  Council  of,  275,  308. 

Armenia,  304. 

persecution  forced  there,  349. 
Amobius,  21 1,  273. 

Arsinoe,  478. 

Artemas,  283. 

Artemon,  168,  169. 

Artotyrites,  215. 

Arts,  the,  not  favored  by  early  Chris- 
tians, 330. 

Asceticism,  96,  128, 
perils  of,  480. 
strange  forais  of,  534. 

Asclepas,  of  Gaza,  389,  403. 

Asia,  304. 

Mother  of  Heretics  and  Heresies, 
304,  305- 

extent  and  fortunes  of,  305. 
Athanasius,  Life  of  S.  Antony,  293. 
charitable  in  interpretation,  370. 
his  early  life  and  character,  376. 
boy-baptism,  377. 
at  Nicaea,  385-389. 

Bishop  of  Alexandria,  402. 
repels  Arius,  403. 
false  charges  against  him,  404. 
charges  disproved  at  Tyre,  404. 
condemned  and  deposed  at  Jeru- 
salem, 405. 

confronts  the  Emperor,  405. 
new  charges,  406. 
banished  to  Gaul,  406. 
on  the  death  of  Arius,  407. 
on  Persecution,  412. 
returns  from  exile,  418. 
driven  out  again,  419. 
pleads  before  Constans,  419. 
acquitted  at  Sardica,  420. 
restored  in  Triumph,  420. 
hypocrisy  of  Constantius,  421. 


568 


Index. 


Athanasius,  seizure  attempted  in 
Church,  424. 

escape  and  adventures,  425,  426. 
among  the  Monks,  426,  427. 
returns  to  his  See,  436. 
driven  out  by  Julian,  437. 
returns,  445. 

driven  out  by  Valens,  448. 
dies,  459. 

Frumentius  consecrated  by  him, 
474- 

Athenagoras,  Apologist,  140,  195. 
Athenodorus,  205. 

Attains,  Martyr,  129. 

Audians,  450. 

Audientes,  238. 

Augustine,  21 1,  222, 

Aurelian,  refers  Antioch  case  to  Rome, 
266. 

growth  of  the  Church,  309. 
Auxentius,  Arian,  of  Milan,  446. 


Babylas,  of  Antioch,  247,  279. 

removal  of  remains,  437. 

Baptism,  93. 

among  the  Elxaites,  148. 
divesting  of  clothes  for,  148. 
two  Baptisms  among  the  Gnostics, 
151. 

by  Heretics,  invalid  at  Carthage, 
212. 

opposite  view  at  Rome,  261. 
three  views,  261. 

Stephen  excommunicates,  262. 
Cyprian  disregards  it,  263. 
question  settled  at  Nicaea,  263. 
in  Jail,  214. 

additional  ceremonies,  327. 
superstitious  delay  of,  409. 
Barabbas,  35. 

Baradai,  Jacob,  546. 


Bar  Cochba,  46. 

Bardesanes,  140,  1 55. 

Barnabas,  S.,  15,  17,  19,  20,  30,  62. 
Epistle  of,  85,  160. 

Baronins,  makes  up  History,  381. 

Barsumas,  at  Robber  Council,  546. 
returns  in  fury  from  Chalcedon, 
546. 

Bartholomew,  S.,  34,  195,  301. 

Basil,  of  Ancyra,  417,  427. 

Basil  the  Great,  432,  451,  454,457. 
and  Julian,  454. 
not  elected  Bishop,  455. 
retreats  to  his  Monastery,  455. 
his  friend  Nazianzen,  455,  458. 
country  Missions,  456. 
made  Bishop,  456. 
relieves  distresses,  456. 
persecuted  by  Valens,  457. 
trials  from  the  Brethren,  457, 
supported  by  Athanasius,  458. 
decencies  of  the  Altar,  457. 
plagued  by  Western  pride,  458. 
dies,  460. 

makes  Monks  country  Mission* 
aries,  482. 

Basilides,  Heretic,  154. 

Basilides,  Martyjr,  200. 

Basilides,  of  Leon,  263. 

Baucalis,  308,  368. 

Beards,  439. 

Belisarius,  552. 

Beryllus,  170,  204. 

Bilson’s  Perpetual  Divine  Government^ 
61,  62. 

Bishops,  Successors  of  the  Apostles,  71. 
their  Powers,  71. 
twofold  character,  75. 
precedence  regulated  by  Sees,  75. 
merchants,  usurers,  sharpers,  228. 
spiritual  change  in,  229. 
equality  of,  262. 


Index. 


569 


Bishops,  relations  of,  263. 
why  numerous,  263. 
a guard  upon  one  another,  266. 
only  one  in  a city,  267. 
number  of,  in  Africa,  300. 
number  of  Donatist  Bishops^300. 
number  in  Syria,  304. 

“ at  Nicsea,  383. 

at  istConctantinople,  464. 
“ at  Ephesus,  524. 

“ at  Chalcedon,  536. 

“ at  2d  Constantinople,  553. 

“ at  3d  Constantinople,  558 

Bithynia,  305. 

Blameless  daily  life  of  Christians,  329. 

Blandina,  Martyr,  129. 

Blastus,  185,  187. 

Blesilla,  453. 

Blind  man,  not  to  be  made  Bishop, 
199. 

Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  on  the  True  Cross, 
400. 

Botrus,  274. 

Britain,  evangelized,  308. 

Bunsen  on  S.  Ignatius,  108, 

“ Butcher  ” Julian,  439. 

Buthos,  149. 


Gaecilianus,  of  Carthage,  374,  383, 
Caesarea,  18. 

Caesarea,  of  Cappadocia,  expunged 
from  list  of  cities,  436,  454. 
has  fifty  suffragan  Sees,  454. 
Caiaphas  ejected,  15. 

Cainites,  154. 

Caius,  189, 190. 

Callistians,  19 1. 

Callistus,  147,  169,  191,  226. 

sketch  of  his  Life  and  Episcopate, 
257, 258. 

Calumnies  of  the  Heathen,  328. 


Calumnies,  conspiracy,  stupra^  carica- 
tures, 329. 

Candidianus,  353. 

Candidianus,  Imperial  Commissioner, 
524- 

Captives  redeemed,  253,  333, 
Cardinales  Episcopiy  190. 

Caritina,  138. 

Carito,  138. 

Carpocratians,  113. 

Carponas,  376. 

Carthage,  a See,  21 1,  224. 

Councils  of,  21 1,  262. 
disputed  succession,  274. 
Catacombs,  269,  270,  331. 

Catechetical  School,  195. 

Catechumen,  three  years’  probation,3i8. 
Cathariy  390. 

Catholicism  the  State  Religion,  472. 
Cato,  whited  sepulchre,  332. 

Celestine,  of  Rome,  and  Nestorius,  520. 

order  of  events,  520. 

Celeusius,  274. 

Celsus,  141. 

ridicules  Christianity,  313, 
Cemeteries,  vigils  in,  328. 

Cenobiuniy  478. 

Centuries,  First  three,  299. 

Cerdo,  155. 

Cerinthus,  53,  90. 

Cestius  Callus,  37. 

Chalcedon,  General  Council  of,  535. 
description  of  the  opening  of,  536. 
Dioscorus  and  colleagues  con- 
demned, 537. 

Eutyches  condemned,  538. 
definitions  of  the  Faith,  538. 

Leo’s  letter  examined,  538. 
and  approved  on  its  merits,  538. 
case  of  the  Egyptian  Bishops,  539. 
Theodoret  submits,  540. 

XXVIII.  Canons,  541. 


570 


Index. 


Chalcedon,  The  twenty-eighth  Canon, 

541. 

general  falling  away,  545. 
authority  of  the  Council  restored, 
550. 

Chalkenteros^  198. 

Chapters,  the  Three,  553. 

condemned  by  the  East,  552. 
the  West  hesitates,  552,  553. 
Vigilius  at  last  anathematizes,  553. 
Fifth  General  Council,  553. 
the  Chapters  condemned,  553. 
disputes  and  schisms  worse  than 
before,  553. 

Charismata,  65. 

their  purpose,  66. 
prophecy  in  the  camp,  66. 
temporary,  316. 

Charities,  Christian,  332.  . 

Children  not  desired,  325. 

heathen  society  too  dangerous  to 
them,  325. 

Chiliast  doctrine,  159,  166,  191,288. 
Choir  of  women,  280. 

Chosroes,  554. 

Christ  an  ^on,  90. 

alone  who  pardons,  239. 
Christians,  good  conduct  of,  105. 
Chrysanthius,  435. 

Chrysostom,  S.,  509,  518,  519. 

Church,  The,  the  Pillar  and  Ground  of 
the  Truth,  77. 
provision  against  Error,  91. 
order  and  liberty  together,  91. 
many  stand-points  harmonized,  92. 
a Witness,  179. 
led  into  the  wilderness,  182. 
never  fought,  resisted,  or  rebelled, 
310- 

assemblies  devotional,  social,  char- 
itable, business,  326. 
rites  and  worship,  326,  327. 


Church,  the  refuge  of  Liberty,  41 1, 
a Witness  against  Persecution,  412. 
deprived  of  revenue  and  privilege 
by  Julian,  435. 

privileges  and  honors  under  Theo- 
dosius, 490. 
restrained  by  law,  492. 
independence  sacrificed,  492. 
softens  Roman  law,  493. 

Church  and  State,  398,  41 1,  489. 
Churches,  the  Age  of,  300. 
Circumcellions,  277,  360,  444. 
Circumcision,  Question  of,  320. 

Circus,  horrible  to  Christians,  122. 
Claudius,  309. 

Claudius  Apollinaris,  Apologist,  140. 
Clement,  of  Rome,  50,  51,  102,  255. 

on  Episcopacy,  73. 

Clement,  of  Alexandria,  195-198. 
Clement  II.,  291. 

Clementines,  The,  147,  257. 
Cleomenes,  169. 

Clergy,  not  to  be  Executors  or  Guar- 
dians, 233. 

the  special  object  of  Valerian’s 
persecution,  264. 

Cletus,  255. 

Collucianists,  377. 

Colluthus,  376,  381. 

Collyridians,  450. 

Coming  of  the  Lord  expected,  245, 
246. 

Commodus,  143. 

Communion  of  Saints,  328. 

Conference  of  sects,  471. 

Babel  of  angry  tongues,  471. 
Confession,  Private,  abolished  at  Con- 
stantinople, 468. 

Confessors,  of  Lyons,  their  good  sense, 
130, 

their  Epistle,  130. 
insolent,  226,  227,  237, 


Index. 


571 


Confessors,  third  power  in  the  Church, 
231,  237. 
tortured,  237. 

Conservatism  in  Oriental  Heresies, 

546. 

ConsisienieSf  238. 

Constans,  413. 

friendly  to  Orthodoxy,  419. 
executes  decrees  of  Sardica,  420. 
dies,  421. 

Constantia,  379,  395. 

Constantine  does  not  persecute,  347. 
receives  Maximian,  351. 
punishes  his  treasons,  351. 
defeats  Maxentius,  352. 
takes  the  Christian  side,  354. 
not  himself  a Christian,  3t;5. 
his  Vision,  355,  356. 
the  Labarum.,  356. 
conquers  Licinius,  362. 
sole  Emperor,  362. 
gives  God  the  glory,  362. 
his  faith  intellectual,  363. 
his  trials  and  end,  364. 
the  type  of  a new  Age,  364. 
hears  Arian  side  first,  379. 
writes  to  Arius  and  Alexander, 
380. 

sends  Hosius  to  Alexandria,  380. 
changes  to  the  Orthodox  side,  381. 
sharp  letter  to  Arius,  381. 
at  Nicsea,  386. 
shields Ihe  Bishops,  387. 
closes  the  Council,  391. 
celebrates  his  Vicennalia,  392. 
warns  against  long  sermons,  393. 

“ Bishop  of  the  outside,”  393. 
cold  reception  in  Rome,  394. 
domestic  tragedies,  395,  396. 
remorse,  396. 

building  of  New  Rome,  396. 
reconstruction  of  the  Empire,  397. 


Constantine,  treaty  with  Persia,  397. 
faults,  398. 

prepares  for  Death,  408. 
rebukes  flattery,  408. 
is  baptized  and  dies,  409,  410. 
reigns  after  Death,  410. 
Constantine  II.,  413. 

Constantine  Pogonatus,  orthodox,  558. 
calls  the  Sixth  General  Council, 

558- 

Constantinople,  First  General  Council 
of,  464-471* 
first  business,  464. 

Maximus  condemned,  466. 
Gregory  enthroned,  466. 
schism  in  Antioch,  466. 
new  Bishop,  Flavian,  467. 
Gregory  is  opposed,  467. 
he  resigns  in  disgust,  468. 
Nectarius  elected,  468. 
the  Creed  completed,  468. 
heresies  condemned,  468. 
four  Canons,  469. 
second  rank  to  New  Rome,  469. 
Synodical  Epistle,  469. 
the  West  dissatisfied,  469. 
but  finally  approves,  470, 
Constantinople,  another  council  at, 
condemns  Eutyches,  529,  530. 
Constantinople,  Second  General  Coun- 
cil  of.  553- 

ignores  the  Constitution  of  Vigi- 
lius,  553. 

condemns  Theodorus  of  Mopsu- 
estia  and  the  Three  Chapters, 
553* 

Vigilius  at  last  concurs,  553. 
Origenians  condemned,  553. 
schisms  and  disputes  worse  than 
before,  553. 

Constantinople,  Third  General  Council 
of,  558. 


572 


Index. 


Constantinople,  attempted  miracle  fails, 

SS8. 

Two  Wills,  Two  Operations,  558. 
* Honorius  and  others  anathema- 
tized, 558. 

attempt  to  condemn  the  Sixth 
Council,  559. 

Constantius,  413. 

receives  Athanasius  as  a peer,  420. 
assures  Athanasius  of  favor,  421. 
is  baptized  and  dies,  430. 
Constantius  Chlorus,  Caesar,  339. 

destroys  only  the  buildings,  not 
the  Christians,  344. 

Emperor,  346. 
divorces  Helena,  347. 
dies,  347. 

**  Consubstantial,”  173. 
at  Antioch,  283. 
at  Nicaea,  284. 
used  by  Dionysius,  291. 
objections  to  the  word,  388,  389. 
the  use  of  it  restored,  430. 
honest  misunderstanding  possible, 

430. 

favored  by  Gratian  and  Theodo- 
sius, 462. 

Corinth,  schismatic  tendency,  88. 
Cornelius,  of  Rome,  241,  253. 
Corybantic  frenzy,  163. 

Council  of  Jerusalem,  22. 

not  enforced,  96. 

Council  General,  Idea  of,  382. 

Creed,  The,  82. 

Baptismal,  83. 
of  Nicaea,  393,  447,  524. 

restored,  443,  445. 
of  Arius,  402. 

of  Golden  Church,  Antioch,  415, 
429- 

five  Arian  Creeds,  415. 
of  Sirmium,  415. 


Creed  of  Seleucia,  415,  429. 
eighteen  in  all,  415, 
dated,  415,  429. 
evasive,  416. 

of  Ariminum,  429,  447,  474. 
of  Constantinople  in  full,  468,  469. 
Crescens,  14 1. 

Crispus,  death  of,  395. 

Cross,  sign  of  the,  327. 

Invention  of  the  True,  400. 
Crown,  Question  of  the,  218. 

Cruelties  of  the  Heathen,  212. 

of  Christian  persecutors  not  to  be 
compared  to  those  of  the  Hea- 
then,  343,  344. 

Cucusus,  421. 

Cynic,  Martyr,  116. 

Cyprian,  S.,  21 1,  222. 
on  Tradition,  82. 
his  life,  labors,  and  Martyrdom, 
224-243. 
his  appeals,  252. 
grants  indulgence,  253. 
compromise  with  Cornelius,  260. 
letter  to  Stephen,  262. 
rebukes  Stephen  about  Spanish 
Bishops,  263,  264. 
martyred,  265. 

Cyril,  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  True  Cross, 
400. 

sound  in  the  Faith,  417,  428. 
Cyril,  of  Alexandria,  5 1 1 . 

Paschal  Epistle,  51 1.  • 
sketch  of  his  life,  514. 
encroaches  on  the  civil  power,  514. 
persecutes  the  sects,  515. 
quarrels  with  Orestes,  515. 
massacre  of  Christians,  515. 
expulsion  of  Jews,  516. 
proffer  of  peace  refused,  517. 
riot  of  the  Monks,  517. 
murder  of  Hypatia,  5 1 7,  5*^* 


Index. 


573 


Cyril,  fourteen  years  of  quiet,  518. 
his  character,  519. 

S.  Isidore,  his  monitor,  519. 
correspondence  with  Nestorius, 
520,  521. 

the  twelve  Anathemas,  522. 
at  Ephesus,  523. 
accused  of  haste,  524. 
returns  triumphant,  525. 
reconciled  with  John,  of  Antioch, 
5^5. 

fails  to  procure  condemnation  of 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  529. 


Damasus,  of  Rome,  452,  453. 
massacres  at  his  election,  452. 
on  Western  Council,  470. 
adds  to  power  of  Roman  See, 
472. 

dies,  472. 

Daphne,  Grove  of,  437. 
beacons,  the  Seven,  12,  79. 

seven,  of  Rome,  271. 

Deaconesses,  65. 
tortured,  104. 

Dead,  Prayer  for  the,  215,  233,  326. 
oblations  for  the,  326. 
commemorated  in  the  diptychs, 
326. 

burial  of  the,  333, 

Deaf  man,  not  to  be  made  a Bishop, 
199. 

Decian  persecution,  244-254, 
a great  crisis,  244. 

Decretal  epistle.  The  first,  472. 
Dedication,  Synod  of  the,  415. 

Delta,  malarious,  of  controversy,  410. 
Demetrianus,  279. 

Demetrius,  of  Alexandria,  192,  194, 
202-204. 

Demiurgus,  149,  150. 


Demoniacal  possession,  Tertullian’s 
challenge,  317. 

Demophilus,  of  Constantinople,  460. 
Development,  80,  164,  165,  322. 

Devil,  The,  might  be  pardoned,  487. 
Dialectics,  Age  of,  176. 

Didymus,  442. 

Dinocrates,  215. 

Dioceses,  number  of,  in  Asia  Minor, 
305- 

number  of,  in  Achaia,  306. 
number  of,  in  Italy,  307. 
Diocletian,  158,  309,  339. 

Jovius,  persecutes,  340. 
his  decree,  342. 
decree  torn  down,  342. 
his  palace  fired,  342. 
probably  by  Galerius,  343. 
horrible  cruelties,  343. 
no  excuse  for  them,  343, 
thousands  slain,  344,  345, 
trophies  erected,  345. 
abdicates,  345. 
at  Salona,  352. 

fate  of  his  wife  and  daughter,  353. 
his  end,  353,  354. 

Diognetus,  Epistle  to,  138. 

Dionysius  the  Great,  of  Alexandria, 
204,  205,  249,  265,  281. 
sketch  of  his  career,  286-291. 
his  unsound  language  explained, 
290. 

explanation  saves  him,  322. 
Dionysius,  of  Rome,  265. 

Dionysius,  of  Corinth,  306. 

opposes  the  Encratites,  306. 
his  writings  interpolated,  306. 
Dionysius,  of  Paris,  308. 

Dionysius,  of  Milan,  422. 

Dioscorians,  547. 

Dioscorus,  of  Alexandria,  529. 
quarrel  with  Theodoret,  529. 


574 


Index. 


Dioscorus,  supports  Eutyches,  530. 
sanctimonious,  530. 
tyrannical,  scandalous,  531. 
presides  at  Robber  Council,  531. 
destroys  its  records,  531. 
his  mistaken  calculation,  532. 
corrupting  the  Monks,  532. 
on  trial  at  Chalcedon,  537. 
condemned  and  contumacious,538. 
banished  and  dies,  539. 

Diptychs,  215,  233,  548,  549. 

S.  Chrysostom’s  name  in,  519. 
Discipline,  in  the  Apostolic  Church,  96. 
decline  of,  219. 
restored,  243. 
lenient  in  Rome,  259. 
generally  rigid,  318. 

Tertullian  appeals  to  it,  318. 
Dispersion,  Jews  of  the,  8. 

carried  the  Gospel  with  them,  9. 
of  the  Disciples,  14. 

Ditheists,  258. 

Docet<By  86,  547. 

Dollinger,  mistranslates  S.  Ignatius, 
254,  255. 

on  the  Primacy,  322. 

Domestic  life.  Heathen,  servitude  of, 
226. 

Dominicum  Aureum^  Council  of  the, 
415. 

Domitian,  52,  59,  103. 

Domitilla,  59. 

Domnus,  of  Antioch,  266,  283. 
Donatists,  274. 

appeal  to  Constantine,  275,  360. 
condemned  thrice,  275. 
uncontrollable  frenzy,  277. 

• turbulent,  444. 

repressed  by  force,  444. 
they  provoke  persecution,  444. 
restored  by  Julian,  445. 
their  violence,  445. 


Donatus,  275. 

Dorotheus,  of  Antioch,  284. 

Dorotheus,  a Bishop,  opposes  “ Theo- 
tokos,” 510. 

Dositheus,  87. 

Dry  diet,  needs  love,  480. 

Dualism,  149,  150. 

DucenariuSf  280. 


Easter,  two  traditions,  12 1, 187,  380. 
Eastern  Bishops,  united,  283. 
Ebionites,  45,  90. 

Ecciesia,  6. 

Eclectic,  Christian,  197. 

**  Economy,”  The,  198. 

Ectasisy  170. 

Ecthesisy  of  Heraclius,  556. 

twofold  Operation,  open  question, 
556. 

rejected  at  Rome,  556. 

EculeuSy  332. 

Edessa,  304. 

Arians  of,  436. 

Egyptian  Church,  286-298,  301. 
Elagabalus,  145. 

Election  of  Bishops,  etc.,  69. 
Eleusinian  Mysteries,  1 14,  432. 
Eleutherus,  130,  184,  308. 

Eliberis,  Council  of,  276. 

its  Novatian  spirit,  276. 

Elxaites,  147,  260. 

Elymas,  20. 

Emanations,  in  the  Nicene  Creed,  370. 
Enceladus,  462. 

Encrateiay  275. 

Encratites,  161,  228. 

Encroachments  of  the  State,  492. 

of  the  Church,  493. 

Enthusiasm,  sensuous,  534,  535. 
Ephesus,  General  Council  at,  523. 
waiting  for  John  of  Antioch,  523. 


Index. 


575 


Pphcsiis,  Nestorius  condemned,  524. 
Rival  Councils,  524. 
the  Court  interferes,  524. 
triumph  of  Cyril,  525* 

Robber  Council  of  (see  Latroci- 
nium). 

Epigonus,  169. 

Epinoiay  87. 

Epiphanius,  on  Heresies,  451. 

Episcopate,  need  of  it,  70. 
its  oversight,  70. 
self-perpetuating,  72. 
at  Alexandria,  peculiar,  192. 
collegiate,  320,  321. 
diocesan,  320,  321. 
synodical,  321. 
all  Bishops  brothers,  321. 
mutually  accountable,  322. 
universal,  323. 
the  Balance-Avheel,  324. 

**  Episcopate  from  without,”  492. 

Epistles,  The  Catholic,  84, 

Epochs  of  human  history,  as  of  rocks, 
299. 

Eternity  of  matter,  173, 

Eucharist,  93. 
daily,  326. 
celebration,  327. 

Eudaemon,  of  Smyrna,  247, 

Eudocia,  Pilgrimage,  534. 

strange  forms  of  Asceticism,  534. 
her  munificence,  534. 
retires  to  monastic  life,  534. 

Eudoxians,  418. 

Eudoxius,  418,  430,  460, 
and  Ulfilas,  474. 

Euelpistus,  138. 

Eugubium,  307. 

Eunomians,  418,  449,  460. 

Eunomius,  418. 

refused  a hearing  b)'  Tlieodosius, 

464. 


Eunuchs,  199. 

of  the  Palace,  414. 

Euphemia,  S.,  536. 

Eusebian  faction.  Prelates  of,  414. 
Eusebius,  of  Caesarea,  partial  to  Origen^ 
203. 

on  the  rebuilding  of  the  Churches, 

357, 358- 

his  character  as  a Historian,  357, 

358- 

too  eulogistic,  363,  364* 

favors  Arius,  378. 

suggests  the  Creed  at  Nicaea,  388. 

life  of  Constantine,  408. 

Eusebius,  of  Alexandria,  284. 
Eusebius,  of  Nicomedia,  377,  385. 
intrigues  against  Constantine,  40 1. 
exiled  and  recalled,  402. 
head  of  the  Court  party,  414. 
roving  commission,  414. 

Eusebius  the  Chamberlain,  eunuch,4l4. 
Eusebius,  of  Vercellae,  422,  445,  446. 
Eusebius,  of  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia, 
455- 

Eusebius,  of  Dorylaeum,  513. 
accuses  Nestorius,  513. 
accuses  Eutyches,  529, 
accuses  Dioscorus,  537. 

Eusebius,  calls  Egyptian  Bishops 
liars,”  539. 

Eustathius,  of  Antioch,  392. 

deposed  on  false  charges,  403. 
adhered  to  by  the  Orthodox,  403. 
Eustochium,  453. 

Eutropius,  403. 

Eutyches,  accused  of  error,  529. 

asserts  One  Nature  in  Christ,  529. 

is  condemned,  530. 

new  Council  of  Ephesus,  530. 

“ Robber  Council,”  531. 
acquitted,  531. 

condemned  at  Chalcedon,  538. 


576 


Index, 


Eutychianism,  three  forms,  536. 

among  the  Armenians,  537. 
Eutychius,  192. 

Euzoius,  Arian,  389,  462. 

made  Bishop  of  Antioch,  436. 
Evagrius,  the  Historian,  554. 
Exomologhisy  238. 

Exorcism,  316,  317. 
fails,  177. 
is  successful,  189. 


Fabianus,  of  Rome,  235. 

Fabiola,  453. 

Fabius,  of  Antioch,  279. 

Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity,  martyred, 
1 14. 

superior  to  Science,  317. 
living  and  triumphant,  337, 

The,  kept,  559. 

False  theories  in  the  Church,  370. 
Families  broken  up  by  Christianity,  324. 
Fanaticism  abounding,  113. 

Fasting,  95, 165. 

Fausta,  slain,  396. 

Faustinus,  of  Lyons,  262, 

Feasts,  95. 

Felicissimus,  240. 

Felicitas,  Martyr,  214-217. 

Felix,  of  Aptunga,  Traditory  274. 
Felix,  Arian  intruder  in  Rome,  423, 

424. 

Felix  II.,  of  Rome,  rejects  the  Henoii- 
cofty  548. 

schism  between  East  and  West, 
548. 

Female  ministers,  166. 

Fictions,  religious,  160, 

Filth,  culture  of,  482. 

Firmilianus,  205,  281,  282. 

Fish,  the  mystic,  explained,  331. 
Flavian,  of  Antioch,  467. 


Flavian,  of  Cbn^tdntinopli,  cdhdttShitt 
Eutyches,  530.  ^ 
murdered  at  Ephesus,  431,  537. 
Florinus,  185. 

Flowers  at  funerals,  331. 

Fortunay  the  goddess,  356. 

Fortunatus,  240. 

Fossoresy  331. 

Four  Words  of  the  Four  Councils,  538. 
Frenzy,  Diabolical,  in  Egypt,  545. 
Fronto,  141. 

Frontonius,  recluse,  293. 

Frumentius,  Apostle  of  Abyssinia,  474. 


Galerius,  Caesar,  339. 

soul  of  the  Tenth  Persecution, 
33^341,  etc. 

Emperor,  346. 
eaten  of  worms,  348. 
dying  edict  of  toleration,  348. 
Gallienus,  309. 

Gallus,  413,  437. 

Gaul,  evangelized  from  the  East,  307. 

mission  of  Seven  Bishops,  307. 
Gelasius,  on  the  True  Cross,  460. 
Geminius,  Victor,  233. 

Generation,  The  Second,  critical,  56. 
GenuJlectenteSy  238. 

George,  the  Cappadocian,  427. 
installed  by  soldiers,  427. 
tom  in  pieces  by  the  mob,  436. 
German  critics,  on  types  of  doctrine,  78. 
Gessius  Florus,  37. 

Gibbon,  his  five  causes  of  Church 
growth,  31 1, 
all  fallacious,  31 1, 
another  fallacy,  31 1, 
his  real  service  to  the  Truth,  31 1, 

312. 

unfairness  as  to  magic,  317. 
fair  as  to  numbers,  319. 


Index.  577 


Gibbon,  unfair  to  Lactantius,  339. 
sneers  at  intemperate  zeal,  342. 
on  Church  Historians,  35b. 
on  death  of  Arius,  407. 
on  death  of  Julian,  442. 
sneers  at  the  controversies  of 
Faith,  560. 

Gieseler,  on  Episcopacy,  61. 

Gifts,  at  Pentecost,  9. 
special,  65. 

special,  overvalued,  89. 

Gladiator  shows  prohibited  in  New 
Rome,  491. 

Gnosis y 86,  146. 

salvation  by  Gnosis y 150. 
as  a philosophy,  15 1. 
a Christian,  197,  198. 

Gnostics,  not  Martyrs,  115. 
their  tenets,  147-1 53. 
their  morals,  1 50. 

cultuSy  15 1. 

Gnostic  sects,  1 53-1 57. 

Gospel,  The,  76. 

Gospels,  the  Four,  80,  83,  84. 

Goths,  terrible  ravages  of,  253. 

on  the  Danube,  evangelized,  474. 
Graffitiy  of  Pompeii,  329. 

Gratian,  emperor,  460. 

Grazers,  479. 

Greek  origin  of  the  Gallic  Church, 
126. 

the  leading  champions  of  Chris- 
tianity, 183. 

Liturgy  at  Rome,  27 1. 

Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  201,  205. 

his  miracles  and  success,  248,  249. 
his  orthodoxy  unimpeached,  248. 
Gregory,  the  Illuminator,  304. 
Gregory,  Arian  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
419. 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  432. 
his  Father,  456. 

25 


Gregory  Nazianzen,  on  natural  scenery, 

455- 

made  Bishop  of  Sasima,  458. 
retires  to  Nazianzus,  459. 
thence  to  Seleucia,  459. 
goes  to  Constantinople,  460. 
the  Anastasia y 461. 
the  “ Theologian,’^  461. 
had  not  the  gift  of  miracles,  461. 
revival  of  Orthodoxy,  462. 
Enceladus,  462. 

sketch  of  Maximus  the  Cynic, 
464-466. 

enthroned,  and  President  of  the 
Council  of  Constantinople,  466. 
Egyptian  movement  against  him, 
467. 

he  resigns,  467. 
his  disgust  at  Councils,  467. 
tender  adieu  to  Constantinople, 
470- 

recluse  life,  poetry,  silence,  471. 
Growth,  silent,  loi,  309,  310. 
like  a rising  tide,  ill. 

Hadrian,  46,  iii. 

thinks  to  place  Christ  among  the 
gods,  1 14. 

Hallowing  all  relations  of  life,  97. 
Haruspicesy  consulted  by  Theodosiu^, 
491. 

Hase,  on  Episcopacy,  61,  73. 

Heathen,  fanatical,  113. 
foulness,  325. 
at  Nicsea,  386. 
philosopher  converted,  386. 
abuses  corrected,  490. 
sacrifices  allowed,  491. 
forbidden,  491. 
temples  destroyed,  491,  504. 
appropriated  to  State  uses,  505* 


578 


Index. 


Heathen,  struggle  with  Chnstianity  long 
continued,  505. 

Heathenism  exhausted,  274. 
Hebdomad,  154. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the,  85. 

Helen,  the  “ lost  sheep,’’  87, 

Helena,  S.,  347. 

partial  to  Crispus,  395. 
pilgrimage,  399. 
churches  built,  399. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
399,  400. 

invention  of  the  True  Cross,  400. 
dies,  400,  401. 

Hellanicus,  exile  in  Rome,  419. 
Henoticofiy  of  Zeno,  548. 

does  not  produce  Unity,  548. 
the  Egyptians  divided,  548. 
the  Catholics  divided,  548. 

Rome  refuses  communion,  548. 
Heraclas,  205. 

Heracleon,  180. 

Heraclius,  554. 

restores  the  True  Cross,  554. 
the  “ little  horn  ” appears,  554. 
a town  taken  by  Saracens,  554. 
whole  Provinces  lost,  555. 
affirms  but  One  Will  in  Christ, 

555- 

Herais,  201. 

Heresies,  three  drifts,  spiritual,  rational, 
sensuous,  77. 
in  the  Apostolic  age,  85. 

Gnostic,  86. 
sensuous,  88. 

Judaic,  89. 

divided  and  disintegrated,  176. 
Hermas,  “ Shepherd”  of,  85,  160. 
Hermias,  Apologist,  140. 

Hermogenes,  156. 

Herod  Agrippa,  15,  17. 

Herod  the  Great,  348. 


Herodotus,  298. 

Hexaplay  202. 

Hierax,  Martyr,  138. 

Hierax,  tortured,  515. 

Hierocles,  341. 

Hilarian,  Pro-consul,  216. 

Hilary,  of  Poitiers,  422,  427,  430. 

the  light  of  Gaul,  446. 

Hippolytus,  on  Simon  Magus,  87,  108. 
on  the  Elxaites,  147. 
his  Philosophoufnenay  1.89-192. 
on  Callistus,  226. 
quarrel  with  Zephyrinus  and  Cal- 
listus, 257,  258. 

History,  Type  of  Church,  299. 

Home  idea  not  strong,  324. 

reasons  for  this,  324-326. 

Homer,  Good  gifts, come  of  God,  298. 
Homoeans,  417. 

their  triumph,  429. 

Homoiousiofty  416,  447. 

Homodusion  (see  ConsubstantiaT), 
Honorius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  556. 

approves  the  Monothelite  heresy, 
556. 

is  anathematized  as  a heretic,  558. 
Papal  infallibility  then  unknown, 
5i8. 

see  Appendix y 561. 

Hosius,  of  Cordova,  276j  380,  382, 

383, 392- 

praised  by  both  sides,  380. 
favors  the  Orthodox,  381. 
at  Nicaea,  389. 
not  a legate  of  Rome,  392. 
signs  first  at  Nicaea,  392. 
spurious  correspondence,  393. 
signs  the  Creed  of  Sirmium,  416. 
tortured  into  Arianism,  424. 
Hospital  for  lepers,  457. 

Hospitality,  Early  Christian,  328 
Hours  of  prayer,  95. 


Index. 


579 


Humanitarianism,  281. 
HydroparastatcEy  162. 

Hymenseus,  of  Jerusalem,  281,  303. 
Hymns,  280. 

by  S.  Ambrose,  500. 

Hypatia,  sketch  of,  517. 

unsexes  herself  revoltingly,  5 1 7. 
cruelly  murdered,  518. 

Hypostasis f difficulties  as  to  meaning, 
450. 

Tritheist  or  Sabellian,  450. 
alienates  East  and  West,  450 
Cyril’s  doctrine,  522. 

Hypostatic  Union,  522. 

Hypotyposesy  197. 

Hypsisterian  sect,  456. 


Iberians,  converted,  473. 

their  king’s  prayer  for  light,  473. 
Iconium,  Council  of,  282. 

Ignatius,  the  third  Witness  of  Episco- 
pacy, 73,  102. 
brought  before  Trajan,  1 06. 
his  journey  to  Rome,  107. 
his  sallies,  108. 
his  Martyrdom,  108. 
his  Relics  and  Epistles,  108,  109. 
his  Witness  to  Doctrine^and  Dis- 
cipline, no. 

“ Nothing  without  the  Bishop.” 
no. 

what  he  says  of  the  Roman 
Church,  254,  255. 

Iliad,  The,  298. 

Incarnation,  The,  532. 

aversion  to  the  Mystery,  547. 
Income  of  the  Early  Church,  333. 
IncorrupticolcEy  547. 

Justinian  a heretic  at  last,  554. 
India,  301. 

interior  of,  474. 


Individualism,  the  root  of  Monachism, 
249. 

George  Muller,  294. 

Indulgences,  243,  3 1 9. 

Infant  Baptism,  objected  to,  225. 
practised,  325. 
communion,  325. 

Informers,  Edict  against,  115. 

In  Pace,  271. 

Inspiration,  Orthodox  and  Montanist. 
166,  167. 

Intellect,  the  boast  of  the  Arians,  378. 
Intercommunion,  321. 

Irenaeus,  85,  130,  141. 

ridicules  theological  obstetricians, 

171- 

and  his  disciples,  183-192. 
Isidore,  monk,  perfectionist,  479. 
Isidore,  of  Pelusium,  519. 
rebukes  Cyril,  519,  525. 
meaning  of  these  rebukes,  519. 

‘‘  Israels,”  Donatist  war-clubs,  444. 
Istrian  Bishops,  separated  from  Rome 
for  a century  and  a half,  554. 
Italy,  306,  307. 


James,  S.,  the  Greater,  17,  53. 

preached  in  Spain,  307. 

James,  S.,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  13, 

33. 36, 39-43. 58. 64. 

precedence  over  Peter  and  John, 

75- 

his  Epistle,  79. 
his  chair,  301. 

James,  of  Nisibis,  384,  443. 

Jerome,  S.,  Ad  Evangelunty  71,  192. 
on  Bishops  of  Alexandria,  192. 
and  Damascus,  452,  472. 
in  Rome,  453. 

asceticism  unpopular  there,  453. 
leaves  Rome,  453. 


58o 


Index. 


Jerome,  retires  to  Palestine,  482. 
Jerusalem,  the  starting-point  of  the 
Church,  II,  301. 

precedence  over  Rome  and  An 
tioch,  75,  256. 

Council  of,  22. 
first  siege  of,  38. 
second  siege  of,  44. 
second  destruction,  46. 

Arian  Council  of,  401,  405. 
attempt  to  rebuild  Temole  of,  440, 
441- 

Jerusalem,  the  New,  160. 

JESUS,  Works  of,  complementary,  3. 
the  two  fishing  scenes,  3. 
a Seed-sower  of  Principles,  4. 
organizes  His  Ministry,  4. 

Prophet,  Priest,  King,  5. 
absolutely,  ministerially,  denva 
tively,  5. 

the  Great  Forty  Days,  6. 
the  Ascension,  6. 
the  Waiting  of  the  Apostles,  6. 
the  Descent  of  the  Paraclete,  7. 
the  silence  of,  109. 

Jewish  Christian  sects,  45,  146. 
Joachim  and  Anna,  58. 

John  the  Baptist,  i. 

the  Head  of,  400. 

John,  S.,  Apostle,  34. 

survivor  of  the  Apostolic  College, 

52. 

removes  to  Asia,  52. 
at  Rome  and  Patmos,  52* 
his  character,  52. 
and  Cerinthus,  53. 
reclaims  a robber,  53, 
is  Anti-Gnostic,  54. 
the  “ terrible  crystal,’^  54. 
the  Apostle  of  Love,  54. 
his  writings  and  later  life,  55 
**  the  Presbyter,*’  55. 


John,  S.,  preserves  the  Unity  of  the 
Church,  56. 

the  first  **  Witness  ” of  Episcopacy, 
72,  102. 

John,  the  Persian,  383. 

John,  the  Almoner,  542. 

John,  of  Antioch,  friend  of  Nestorius, 
521. 

prudent  advice  to  Nestorius,  521. 
late  at  Ephesus,  523,  524. 
rival  Council,  524. 
reconciled  with  Cyril,  325. 

Jovian,  443. 

restores  Christianity,  443. 

Jovinian,  monk,  heretic,  450,  45 1. 

Judaic  Christianity,  40,  41,  45. 
its  mission  ended,  45. 

Judaizers,  21,  89. 

Judas  Iscariot,  155/ 

Jude,  S.,  33. 

Judgments,  the  six  great,  38. 

Julian,  of  Apamea,  177. 

Julian,  the  Apostate,  413,  430. 
his  early  training,  431-433. 
sole  Emperor,  434. 
devotes  himself,  434. 
reforms  the  government,  434. 
pretended  toleration,  335. 
persecutes,  435-442. 
ridiculed  in  Antioch,  437. 
thundering  Antiphon,  437'. 
cruel  measures,  438. 
idolatry  restored,  439. 
beards,  439. 
literary  efforts,  440. 
attempt  to  rebuild  the  Temple, 
440,  441. 

Persian  war,  and  Death,  441,  442. 
prophecies  and  wonders,  442, 443. 

Julius  Africanus,  205. 

Julius,  of  Rome,  418,  419. 

Justin  Martyr,  117. 


Index, 


5S1 


Justin  Martyr,  in  search  of  Truth, 

131* 

his  teachers,  1 31. 

meets  an  Evangelist,  132. 

his  life  and  writings,  1 32-1 37. 

his  Confession,  137,  138. 

his  Martyrdom,  139. 

his  Dialogue  with  Trypho^  313. 

Justin,  Emperor,  554. 

Justina,  Arian,  472. 

and  S.  Martin,  486. 

Justinian,  Lay-Pope,  550. 
a persecutor,  551. 
public  works,  551, 

S.  Sophia,  551. 
reform  of  Roman  Law,  552. 
condemns  Origen’s  errors,  552. 
and  the  Three  Chapters,  552. 
calls  Fifth  General  Council,  553. 
dies  a Heretic  at  last,  554. 

Justus,  of  Jerusalem,  44. 
martyred,  106. 

Juvenal,  of  Jerusalem,  523. 

at  the  “ Robber  Council,^*  531. 
flees  after  Chalcedon,  545. 
is  restored,  545. 


Kata  panta  homoion y 407, 419. 
Kenomay  149. 

Kingdom  of  God,  Expectation  of  it, 
2. 

Kiss  of  peace,  93. 

Ktistolatra,  537. 


Labarumy  443. 

Lactantius,  21 1,  273. 

De  morte  Fersecutorumy  339. 
Lampridius,  114. 

Laodicean  Christijans,  187, 
Lap-dogs,  219. 


Lapsed,  The,  238,  239. 

lenity  to  them  at  Alexandria,  287. 
Latrociniumy  or  Robber  Council,  531. 
account  of  it,  at  Chalcedon,  531. 
violence  and  irregularity,  531. 
Bishops  mobbed,  531. 

Flavianus  dies  of  his  injuries,  531. 
the  records  destroyed,  531, 
Eutyches  cleared,  531. 
proofs,  537,  538. 

Barsumas  there,  546. 

Laura,  The,  296,  478. 

Laurentius,  Roman  deacon,  272,  273. 
Law,  The,  a FcedagoguSy  8. 

Lay  influence,  69. 

element  in  Synods,  180. 
in  North  Africa,  23 1, 
in  Discipline,  231. 
teaching,  196. 

Laying  on  of  hands,  94. 

Laymen  at  Nicaea,  386. 

Legates  of  the  Apostles,  70, 

Lent,  165. 

Leo,  of  Rome,  the  first  against  Dios- 
corus,  532. 

his  famous  letter  to  Flavianus, 

532. 

not  read  at  the  Latrociniumy  532. 
demands  a new  Council,  532. 
his  letter  at  Chalcedon,  538,  539. 
accepted  on  its  merits,  539. 
he  opposes  Canon  XXVIII.,  541. 
Leo,  Emperor,  proposes  to  ignore  Chal- 
cedon, 548. 

Leonides,  199. 

Leontius,  an  Arian,  425. 

Letter,  difference  of  a (ec  or  /»),  546. 
Libanius,  433,  442. 

ridicules  the  monks,  505. 
Libellaticiy  145,  236. 

Libelli  pacisy  238. 

Liberianus,  Martyr,  138. 


f 


582  Index. 


Liberius,  of  Rome,  421. 
banished,  423. 
his  fall  into  Heresy,  424. 
signs  the  Sirmium  creed,  renounces 
Athanasius,  and  anathematizes 
all  who  refuse  to  do  likewise, 
424. 

redeems  his  credit,  430,  446,  447. 

Licinius,  347,  379. 

favors  Christianity,  360. 
alliance  with  Constantine,  360. 
his  Dream,  360,  361. 
war  with  Constantine,  361. 
he  persecutes,  361. 
defeat  and  death,  362. 

Limits  of  belief,  173. 

Linus,  255. 

Liturgic  language  in  N.  T.,  95. 

Liturgies,  the  Four  Great,  55,  95. 
understanded  of  the  people,  69. 
conservative,  546. 

Local  administration,  323. 

Logos y The,  171,  172. 

Longinus,  280. 

Lord’s  Day,  327, 

a feast,  by  law,  490. 

“ Lost  Sheep,”  The,  149. 

Lucian,  heathen,  141,  328. 

Lucian,  Martyr,  starved,  239,  285. 
list  of  heretics,  his  scholars,  285. 
father  of  Arianism,  285. 
starved  in  prison,  285,  286. 
his  breast  a living  altar,  285,  286. 

Lucifer,  of  Cagliari,  422. 

consecrates  Paulinus  in  Antioch, 
446. 

Luciferians,  446. 

Lucilla,  274. 

kissing  a bone,  274. 

Lucius,  of  Rome,  Martyr,  254. 

Lucius,  British  Prince,  308. 

Lucius,  of  Hadrianople,  403. 


Lucius,  of  Hadrianople,  an  exile,  in 
Rome,  419. 

Lucius,  Arian,  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
459- 

Luke,  S.,  with  S.  Paul,  31,  62. 

Luther,  on  S.  James,  79. 

Lyonnese  Martyrs,  125. 

Mabia,  Queen  of  Saracens,  475, 
Macarius,  S.,  Monastery  of,  544. 
Macarius,  of  Jerusalem,  400. 

Macarius,  monk,  478. 
homilies  of,  480, 

Macarius,  of  Antioch,  Heretic,  558. 
Macedonia,  306. 

Macedonius,  Arian  Bishop  of  Constan- 
tinople, 421. 

his  butchery  of  three  thousand 
persons,  422. 

tortures  and  other  cruelties,  422. 
denies  the  Deity  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  449. 
is  deposed,  460. 

thirty  adherents  at  the  Council, 
464. 

Macella,  201. 

Magi^  persecutors,  473. 

Magic  rites  punished,  491. 

Magical  pretensions,  317. 

Magician,  316. 

Magnentius,  413. 

Majorinus,  275. 

Malchion,  of  Antioch,  282,  283. 
Mammaea,  201. 

Mandra^  478. 

Mani,  156. 

Manichseans,  i$7,  158,  304,  450 
their  discipline,  319. 
not  tolerated,  460. 

Manumission  of  slaves,  333. 

Marcella,  453. 


Index. 


583 


Marcellus,  of  Rome,  groom  in  the  Em- 
peror’s stables,  357. 

Marcellus,  centurion,  martyr,  340. 

Marcellus,  of  Ancyra,  385,  389, 

404. 

deposed,  405. 
in  Rome,  419. 
not  quite  Orthodox,  448. 

Marcia,  143. 

Marcian,  Emperor,  535,  536.  ' 

Marcion,  155. 

his  offerings  rejected,  333. 

Marcosians,  154,  186. 

Marcus,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  46. 

Marcus,  heretic,  186. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  115,  116,  143. 

Marinus,  Martyr,  309. 

Maris,  of  Chalcedon,  389. 

Mark,  S.,  in  Egypt,  19,  50. 

Mark,  John,  32. 

Mark,  of  Arethusa,  tortured  by  Julian, 

436. 

Maron,  John,  559. 

Maronites,  submit  to  Rome,  559. 

Marriage  permitted  to  those  in  Holy 
Orders,  at  Rome,  258. 
of  the  Clergy,  384. 

Marriages,  second,  165. 

Married  twice  or  thrice,  admitted  to 
Holy  Orders  in  Rome,  258. 

Martialis,  of  Astorga,  263. 

Martianus,  of  Arles,  262. 

Martin,  S.,  of  Tours,  450. 
sketch  of,  482. 
he  founds  monasteries,  483. 
is  made  Bishop  of  Tours,  483. 
evangelizes  the  rural  parts,  484. 
his  miracles,  484. 
he  opposes  superstition,  485. 
roots  up  idolatry,  485. 
builds  churches,  485. 
at  court,  486. 


Martin,  S.,  and  the  Devil,  487. 
pleads  for  Priscillianists,  487. 
looks  for  the  “ print  of  the  nails,” 
488. 

Martin  I.,  Bishop  of  Rome,  anathema- 
tizes Monothelite  leaders,  556. 
is  seized,  brutally  treated,  and 
banished,  557. 
dies  in  exile,  557. 

Martyr,  161. 

Martyrdom,  inordinate  zeal  for,  112, 
121. 

Martyrs,  number  of,  1 14. 
their  tortures,  128. 
their  charity,  128. 
era  of  the,  291. 

and  Confessors,  insolent,  226,  227. 
military,  250. 
worship  of,  315. 
relics  of,  315. 

Mary,  S.,  Mother  of  our  Lord,  57. 
confided  to  S.  John,  58. 
reserve  of  Scripture,  58. 
legends  and  traditions,  58. 
her  Conception  and  Assumption, 
58,  59- 

Theotokos,  500-503,  512,  517. 
Massacre  of  Jews,  35,  36. 

Massalians,  450. 

Matthew,  S.,  34,  194, 

Matthias,  S.,  7,  34,  62. 

Maturus,  martyr,  129. 

Maurice,  454. 

Maxentius,  slays  Severus,  346, 

a monster  of  wickedness,  35 1, 
defeated  and  slain,  352. 
demoniacal  incantations,  356. 
Maximian,  emperor,  339. 

Herculius,  339. 

resigns  and  resumes,  346. 

retires  to.  Gaul  and  kills  himself, 

351- 


584 


Index. 


Maximian,  Bishop  of  Constantinople, 

525- 

Maximilian,  soldier,  martyr,  340. 

Maximilla,  164. 

Maximin,  the  Thracian,  145. 

Maximin,  Caesar,  346. 
relents,  348. 
persecutes  afresh,  349. 
his  lusts,  349. 

his  reverses  and  suicide,  350. 
dying  edict  of  toleration,  350. 

Maximus,  of  Carthage,  242. 

Maximus,  of  Ephesus,  martyr,  247. 

Maximus,  of  Alexandria,  283,  291. 

Maximus,  of  Jerusulem,  403. 

Maximus,  an  Ephesian  quack,  432. 

Maximus,  the  Cynic,  464. 
his  hair,  etc.,  464. 
a devoted  admirer  of  Gregory,  465. 
his  plot  and  enthronement  as 
Bishop,  465,  466. 
rejected  by  all,  466. 
no  Bishop,  466. 

Maximus,  tyrant  of  Gaul,  etc.,  472. 
favorable  to  Orthodoxy,  472. 
and  S.  Martin,  486. 
defeated,  501. 

Mediterranean,  Belt  of  the,  300,  308. 

Melchiades,  275. 

Melchites,  543. 

Melchizedekians,  1 68. 

Meletians,  side  with  Arians,  378. 

decision  about  them  at  Nicaea,  390, 
alienation  of  races,  543. 

Meletius,  of  Lycopolis,  deposed,  292. 
makes  a schism,  292. 
its  rapid  spread,  292. 

Meletius,  of  Antioch,  orthodox,  446. 
his  kind  offer  to  Paulinus,  452, 467. 
returns  from  exile,  460. 
presides  at  opening  of  Council, 
466, 467. 


Meletius,  of  Aittioch,  dies  soon  after, 
466. 

Melito,  Apologist,  140. 

Mcmnon,  of  Ephesus,  523. 

Menander,  87. 

Mensurius,  276. 

how  he  saved  the  Church  books 
276. 

Mercator,  Marius,  513. 

Merutn  maiutinum,  326. 

Mesmeric  phenomena,  164. 

Methodius,  206,  304. 

Metropolitan  system,  74. 
needed,  241 

no  appeal  beyond  the  Province, 
256. 

the  opposite  of  the  Papal  system, 
322. 

Metropolitans,  their  rights  defined  at 
Nicsea,  390,  391. 

Middleton,  and  the  soul,  317. 

Milan,  Arian  CounCil  of,  422. 

separated  from  Rome,  554. 
Militant  spirit  of  the  Church,  335,  336. 
Military  service,  objected  to,  330. 
Millennium,  159,  165,  184. 

Milman,  on  Church  Historians,  358. 
on  Athanasius,  407, 
on  Cyril,  520. 

Miltiades,  Apologist,  140,  178. 
Ministry,  local,  64. 

change  from  miraculous  to  ordi- 
nary, 66,  67. 

Minor  Orders,  323. 

Minucius  Felix,  Apologist,  141,  21 1, 

313- 

Minucius  Fundanus,  115. 

Miracles,  189,  315-318. 

Mission,  temporary  and  permanent,  67. 

given  by  laying  on  of  hands,  94. 
Missions  in  the  Fourth  Century,  472- 
475- 


Index. 


5^5 


Missions  in  the  Fourth  Century,  monks 
the  missionaries,  476. 

S.  Basil  leads  the  movement,  482 
Mithras^  149. 

Mohammedanism,  310. 

Monachism,  its  rise,  292, 

a missionary  power,  476. 

Christian  and  Heathen,  480. 
dreaded  in  Africa,  481. 
disliked  in  the  West,  482. 
favored  by  Athanasius,  Jerome, 
Ambrose,  Martin,  482. 
ever  needing  reform,  488. 
Nativism  vs,  Hellenism,  543,  544. 
Monad,  170. 

Monarchians,  i68r 
Monastic  maxims,  480. 

life,  a Hospital,  481. 

Monkeys,  219. 

Monks,  tortured  for  Ainanasius’  sake, 
426. 

married,  479.  • 
as  preachers,  481. 
preach  in  the  vernacular,  481. 
persecuted  by  Valens,  481. 
wild  dreams  of,  485. 
ridiculed  by  Libanius,  505. 
loud  against  Nestorius,  513. 
throw  stones  at  Orestes,  516. 
enraged  after  Chalcedon,  545. 
Monoimus,  156. 

Monophysite  heresy,  541. 

revolt  of  the  Egyptian  Church,  542. 
Proterius  murdered,  542. 
Melancholy  decay  of  Egyptian 
Church,  542,  543. 

Melchites,  543. 

Hellenism  and  Nativism,  543. 
Monachism,  native,  543. 
liturgies  vernacular,  544. 
Monophysite  Patriarchs  reside  in 
the  Thebais,  544. 

25* 


Monophysite,  madness  of  the  people, 
544‘ 

general  falling  away,  545. 
heresy  spreads  in  Palestine,  545. 
Nativism  strong  there  too,  545. 
spreads  in  Syria,  546. 
fossilizes  the  religion  of  three 
Councils,  546. 

Monothelite  heresy,  555. 
edict  of  Heraclius,  555. 
nature  of  the  Heresy,  555. 
four  patriarchs  deceived,  556, 
Honorius  a Heretic,  556. 

The  Ecthesis,  556. 

The  Typus.,  556. 
condemned  at  Rome,  556, 
condemned  at  Sixth  General 
Council,  558. 

attempt  to  revive  the  Heresy,  559. 
Montanism,  in  North  Africa,  167, 
Montanists,  130,  140. 

introduce  the  giving  of  salaries, 
334- 

Montanus,  162,  164,  167. 

Moon,  shouting  at  the,  504. 

Morals,  96. 

Moses,  monk,  converts  Saracens,  475. 
refuses  consecration  by  the  Arian 
Lucius,  475. 

Mosheim,  on  Episcopacy,  61. 

misinterprets  Cyprian,  232. 
Musanus,  Apologist,  140. 

Mutilations  forbidden,  391. 

Mutual  sympathy,  328. 

Mystical  sense  of  Scripture,  201,  202. 


Naassenes,  154. 

Names,  significant,  no  evidence  ofj 
myth,  90. 

Narcissus,  of  Jerusalem,  302. 

water  to  replenish  lamps,  302. 


586 


Index. 


Narcissus,  of  Jerusalem,  his  miracles, 
302. 

leaves  and  resumes  nis  See,  302. 
Nativism  at  the  root  of  Nestorian  and 
Monophysite  defections,  528, 

544,  S46. 

Nazarenes,  45,  89. 

Neander,  on  Episcopacy,  61,  80. 
on  S.  James,  79. 
on  Origen,  204. 

Nectarius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople, 
468. 

Nemesis i 362,  363. 

Neo-Platonism,  141,  153,  194,  279, 
281,  313,  374- 
first  throned  in  Julian,  433. 
finally  put  down  under  Justinian, 

505- 

Nepos,  Chiliast,  288. 

Nero,  25,  26,  36. 

Nerva,  103. 

Nestorian  and  Pelagian  heresies  con- 
nected, 512. 

Nestorianism  spreads  through  the  East, 
526, 527. 

its  peculiarities,  527. 
an  arrested  growth,  528. 
Nestorius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople, 

509- 

zealous  against  Heretics,  509. 

“the  Incendiary,”  510. 
the  title  Theotokos  denied,  510. 
replies  to  Cyril’s  Paschal  Letter, 
512. 

answers  Proclus,  513. 
answers  John  of  Antioch,  521. 
twelve  counter-anathemas,  522. 
first  at  Ephesus,  523. 
irreverent  speeches,  523. 
condemned  and  deposed,  524,  525, 
dies  miserably  in  exile,  526, 

New  Era,  Signs  of,  360, 


Nicsea,  Council  of,  382-393. 

private  grievances  disposed  of, 
386, 387. 
conferences,  387. 
discussions  and  debates,  387 
Arius  condemned,  389. 

Paschal  question,  390. 
other  questions,  390,  391. 
closing  session,  391. 
who  presided  ? 392. 
the  Creed,  393. 
spurious  Papal  sanction,  393. 
Nicolaitanes,  85,  88. 

Nicomedia,  305. 

Church  of,  destroyed  by  Diocle- 
tian, 341. 

Nisibis,  surrendered  to  Persia,  443. 
Nitrian  mountain,  478. 

Noetus,  169. 

Non-resistance  to  opp'-ession,  336. 
Nous.,  87,  154. 

Novatian,  175,  241. 

advised  by  Dionysius  to  resign, 
287. 

Novatianism,  240-243. 

orthodox  in  Faith,  243,  371. 
condemned  at  Antioch,  279. 
Novatians,  390. 

their  Confession  approved,  371. 
persecuted  by  Cyril,  515. 

Novatus,  240r243. 

Novelties,  wholesome  dread  of,  178. 
Nubia,  301. 

Numbers,  as  symbols,  247. 

Numerical  strength  of  Christians,  319. 
Gibbon’s  estimate  fair,  319. 


Observances,  95. 

Obstetricians,  theological,  171. 
Offerings  at  the  Altar,  333. 
of  Heretics  rejected,  333. 


Index. 


587 


Offerings,  for  the  Dead,  333,  334. 
for  three  chief  objects,  334, 
spent  by  Deacons  as  directed  by 
Bishops,  334. 

included  all  one’s  property,  334. 
Ogdoady  154,  186. 

Ophites,  154. 

Optatus,  on  the  Donatists,  444. 

Orders,  the  Three,  67,  68,  94. 
relation  to  one  another,  68. 
all  ha  :l  part  in  the  Sacerdotium,  68. 
Orestes,  Prefect  of  Alexandria,  515. 
attacked  by  Monks,  516. 
intimate  with  Hypatia,  518. 
Origen,  85. 

converts  Beryllus,  170. 
his  life  and  labors,  198-205. 
his  errors,  205. 
heretical  tendencies,  205. 
is  tortured  and  dies  in  prison,  253. 
254- 

small  in  body,  254. 
his  disciples,  286. 
against  Celsus,  313. 
some  of  his  tenets  condemned,  552. 
Origenians,  aggrieved,  553. 

Origin  of  evil,  174. 

Ormuzdy  149,  157. 

Orphans,  332. 

Oxyrynchus,  478. 

Pachomius,  monk,  478. 

Pagan  zeal  dies  away,  357. 

Paganism  new  vamped,  349. 

yet  strong  in  the  country  parts,  476. 
Palestine,  301,  344,  345. 
martyrs  of,  303. 

their  wonderful  endurance,  303. 
restoration,  like  a flash  of  light- 
ning, 303. 

Palladius,  Arian,  condemned,  495/ 


Pambos,  and  the  actress,  479. 

Pamphilus,  205. 

Pantsenus,  195,  301. 

Pantheon,  The,  505. 

Paphnutius,  383. 

Papias,  103. 

Parables,  Notes  of  the  Church,  2. 
the  Talents  and  the  Pounds,  2. 
the  growing  Church,  102. 

Paraclete y 7,  164,  166. 

Parity,  ministerial,  none,  66. 

Parobolaniy  518. 

Party  names,  219. 

“ Spirituals  ” and  “ Psychicals,” 
220. 

Paschal  Question,  187. 
settled  at  Nicsea,  390. 

Paschal  Lamb,  187,  188. 

Paschal  Letters,  290,  390. 

Paschasinus,  536. 

Patient  continuance,  336. 

Patriarchates,  order  of,  76. 
three  schismatical,  546. 

Patripassians,  169,  190,  19 1. 

Paul,  S.,  the  Benjamite  wolf,  15,  27. 
the  Apostle,  19,  21. 
his  second  journey,  23. 
his  Epistles,  23. 
at  Corinth,  23. 
at  Ephesus,  23. 
at  Jerusalem,  24. 
at  Caesarea,  24. 
at  Rome,  24. 

in  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain,  25,  308 

Martyrdom,  26. 

and  his  company,  30,  31. 

Paul,  of  Samosata,  171,  266,  322. 
sketch  of  his  career,  279-284. 
revived,  513. 

Paul,  Prince  of  the  anchorets,  249. 

Paul,  of  Constantinople,  exile,  419. 
exiled  again,  and  niurdered,  421, 


588 


Index. 


Paula,  453. 

Paulinus,  of  Treves,  422. 

Paulinas,  of  Antioch,  446. 

rejects  the  offer  of  Meletius,  452, 
467. 

aids  Damasus  in  Rome,  472. 
Paulites,  284. 

Peace,  season  of,  222. 

Pearson,  on  S.  Ignatius,  109. 

Pella,  44. 

Penance,  3x8. 

of  Theodosius,  513. 

Pentecost,  7. 

second,  14. 

Pentecostal  Age,  299. 

Pepuza,  165. 

Peregrinus,  Cynic  martyr,  116, 
Perpetua,  martyr,  2 14-2 17. 

Persecution,  in  Jerusalem,  13. 
first  general,  under  Nero,  36. 
second y under  Domitian,  56. 
thirdy  under  Trajan,  103. 
fourthy  under  Hadrian,  113. 
fifthy  under  Marcus  Aurelius, 

117. 

sixthy  under  Severus,  144. 
seventhy  under  Maximin,  the 
Thracian,  145. 
eighthy  under  Decius,  235. 
ninthy  under  Gallus  and  Valerian, 
253, 264, 290. 

tenihy  under  Diocletian  and  Max- 
imian,  273,  338-354. 
its  fury  in  Egypt,  297. 
horrible  tortures,  297. 
by  the  Arians,  418,  421,  422. 
in  the  West,  422. 
by  kindness,  423. 
by  Acacians,  430. 
by  Valens,  447,  448. 
eighty  priests  burned  at  once, 
448. 


Persia,  304. 

Church  growth  in,  473. 
i6,cxdo  martyrs,  473. 
fresh  persecution,  474. 

Persians,  ravages  by,  253. 

Peter,  S.,  in  Samaria,  14. 

receives  Cornelius,  16,  18. 
imprisoned,  17. 

his  position,  the  first  stone  laid,  47. 
his  use  of  the  keys,  47. 

Petros  and  Petray  47. 
travels  to  Rome,  etc.,  48. 
double  Episcopates,  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, 48. 

his  pastoral  gift,  49, 
his  strength  and  weakness,  49. 
censured  by  S.  Paul,  49. 
his  Episcopate  in  Rome  denied, 
49,  50- 

a married  man,  50. 

Peter,  Martyr,  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
291,  297. 

he  warns  against  Arius,  297. 
Peter,  of  Alexandria,  exiled,  459. 

returns,  460. 

Peter  Mongus,  544. 

Phantasiasts,  547, 

Phariseeism  in  general,  275. 

Philip,  the  Deacon,  14. 

Philip,  S.,  Apostle,  34. 

Philip,  the  Arabian,  145,  201,  235. 
Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  348. 

Philippicus,  attempts  to  reverse  the 
Sixth  General  Council,  559. 
Philippopolis,  Council  of,  420. 

Philo,  the  Jew,  19,  194. 

Philosopher’s  cloak,  204. 
Philosophoumenay  190. 

Philostorgius,  “that  liar,”  374>  4^7* 
Philumena,  156. 

Phocas,  554. 

Photinians,  460. 


Index, 


589 


Photinus,  deposed,  421. 

heretical,  448. 

Phrygian  ecstasy,  162,  177. 
PhihartolaircBy  547. 

Pictures  forbidden  in  churches,  331. 
Pierius,  205,  291. 

Pilate,  deposed,  15. 

forged  “ Acts  of,  349. 
Pillar-saints,  479,  533. 

Pinytus,  Bishop  of  the  Gnossians, 
306. 

Pionius,  martyr,  247. 

Pistus,  389. 

Places  of  prayer,  95. 

Plague,  The,  250. 

panic  among  the  Heathen,  250, 
251. 

courage  of  the  Christians,  251. 
evil  overcome  with  good,  25 1. 
Pleroma^  86,  149. 

Pliny  the  younger,  103,  314. 

Plotinus,  141,  142,  194,  201,  313. 
Point  of  view.  Heathen,  268. 

Christian,  269. 

Politics,  untouched,  96. 

Polycarp,  S.,  102,  117,  119. 
style  and  character,  120. 
TheodromCy  120. 
described  by  Irenseus,  120. 
visits  Rome,  120. 
called  for  by  the  mob,  122. 
his  Martyrdom,  1 23-1 25. 
Polycronius,  heretic  monk,  558, 
fails  to  work  a miracle,  558. 
Pontius,  deacon,  224. 

Pontus,  invasion  of  the  Goths,  305. 
Portraits  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles, 
331- 

Porphyry,  141,  142,  313. 

Potamisena,  200,  201. 

Potamon,  of  Heraclea,  384. 

Pothinus,  1 1 7,  125. 


Pothinus,  cry  for  his  blood,  126. 
martyred,  129. 

Potior em  Principalitatemy  255. 

Power  of  Christianity,  335. 

Praxeas,  169. 

Precedence  of  Bishops,  75. 
Presbyter-bishops,  64. 

Presbyteresses,  65. 

Presbyters  or  Elders,  14,  55* 
Prescription,  175. 

Priesthood  of  the  Laity,  1 66. 

Primates,  rule  of,  in  Africa,  224. 
Priscilla,  164. 

Priscillianists,  450. 

pleaded  for  by  S.  Martin,  487. 
condemned  for  their  evil  deeds, 
487. 

Privatus,  222. 

Proclus,  of  Cyzicum,  509. 

preaches  on  the  Theotokos ^ 513. 
Procopius,  public  and  secret  History, 
550. 

Proculus,  168,  220. 

Prodigies  and  omens,  37,  43. 

Progress  of  the  Gospel,  309,  310, 
problem  unprecedented,  310. 

Pro  mora  finis ^ prayer,  213,  246. 
Proterius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  mur- 
dered, 542. 

Providence  in  History,  362. 

PseudoSy  198. 

Pulcheria,  educates  Theodosius  II., 

533- 

lavish  outlay,  534. 
love  of  relics,  535. 
marries  Marcian,  535. 

Council  of  Chalcedon  called, 

535- 

Pulpit  eloquence  unknown  for  three 
centuries  at  Rome,  272. 
Purgatory,  160. 

Puritans,  162,  241. 


590 


Index. 


Quacks,  troops  of,  Julian,  435. 
Quadratus,  102. 

Apology  for  the  Christians,  114. 
Quartodecimanism,  285,  390. 

Quinisext  Council  (see  Truth'), 
Quintus,  volunteer  martyr,  and  coward, 
121. 


Rack,  number  of  holes  in,  254. 
Rationalist  reaction,  168,  169. 

Ravenna,  separated  from  Rome,  554. 
Rebaptism  by  the  Novatians,  243,  288. 

by  the  Catholics,  289.  ^ 

“ Reason  ” and  Private  Judgment,  382. 
Rejoicings  at  the  triumph  of  Christian- 

ity,  357.  358. 

Relic  worship,  535. 

Representation  of  the  whole  Church, 
321. 

Reservation,  eucharistical,  327. 
Revivalism,  163. 

Rites,  92. 

little  new  needed,  92. 

Riots,  exaggeration  of  number  slain, 
544,  545- 

Rod  of  Moses,  314. 

Rogatian,  232. 

Rome,  Christians  there  at  an  early  date, 
18. 

point  of  confluence  of  traditions, 

174. 

a steady  balance,  175. 

Auctoritas  prcesto.,  21 1,  255. 
origin  and  growth  of  Roman 
Church,  254-278. 
missionary  zeal  of,  255. 
the  resort  of  Heretics,  256. 
Matrix  Religionis,  256. 
statistics  of,  in  third  centuiy,  267. 
social  position  then,  267. 
pulpit  eloquence  unknown,  272. 


Rome,  charities  abundant,  272,  273. 
the  standard-bearer  of  Orthodoxy 
277. 

Donatist  succession  in  Rome,  277. 
the  See  of  S.  Peter,  277. 
early  Synod  of,  witli  only  14  Bish- 
ops, 307. 

an  hundred  sees,  307. 
the  Primacy,  as  stated  by  Dollin- 
ger,  322. 

true  order  of  events  inverted  by 
Roman  theory,  322. 
submits  to  the  Cross,  356. 
refuge  of  Nicene  exiles,  419. 
luxury  and  wealth  of  its  Bishops, 
452. 

Council  at,  condemning  Nestorius, 

520,  521. 

Cyril  to  carry  out  the  sentence, 

521. 

“ shall  have  the  Primacy,^’  a false 
reading,  541. 

Rothe,  on  Episcopacy,  61. 

Rule  of  Faith,  81,  83. 
the  Creed,  82,  83. 


Sabbas,  442. 

Sabellianism,  1 68. 

Sabellius,  170. 

condemned  at  Rome,  258. 
Sabinus,  of  Leon,  264. 

Saccophori,  162. 

Sacraments,  1 04. 

none  in  the  wilderness,  249. 

Sacra  Peregrinay  268. 

Sacrificatiy  236. 

Saint-worship,  probable  origin  of,  398. 
Salaries,  the  invention  of  Montanists, 
334- 

Samosata,  Paul  of,  171. 

Samosatenians,  284. 


Index. 


591 


Sampsaeans,  45. 

Sanctus,  deacon,  128. 

Sapor,  431,  473. 

Saracens,  evangelized,  475. 
take  their  first  town,  554. 
take  whole  Provinces,  555. 
take  Jerusalem,  557. 
take  large  parts  of  the  Empire, 
557. 

stopped  by  the  Greek  Fire,  557. 
Sarah  and  Hagar,  197. 

Sardica,  Council  of,  419,  420. 

splits  between  East  and  West,  420. 
Athanasius  acquitted,  420. 
canon  of,  about  appeals,  492, 493^ 
Sarmats,  a376. 

Sasima,  458. 

Saturninus,  Gnostic,  155. 

Saturninus,  Martyr,  216. 

Saturus,  Martyr,  216. 

Saul,  of  Tarsus,  19. 

his  ordination,  20. 

Schaff,  on  Episcopacy,  61,  73,  74. 
on  S.  Ignatius,  109. 
on  Gnosticism,  152. 

Schism,  in  Corinth,  88. 
in  Antioch,  403. 

between  East  and  West,  35  years, 
548. 

Schools,  three  chief,  of  Theology,  1 74. 

the  Age  of,  299. 

Scillitan  martyrs,  21 1-2 1 7. 

Scriptures,  the  Holy,  destroyed  in  the 
Tenth  Persecution,  341. 

Sects,  in  Africa,  222,  223, 

Arian,  416,  427. 

quarrelling  among  themselves, 
427. 

Semiarian,  416,  427. 
HomoiousioUf  416,  447, 

Secundus,  377,  389. 

Seleucia,  Council  of,  427,  429. 


Self-destruction  of  Christians,  286. 
Senate,  The,  becoming  Christian,  504. 
Senior es  populi^  231. 

Senses,  to  be  sealed,  157. 

Sensuous  bias,  158. 

Sepedon,  two-headed  hairy  serpent,  90. 
Sepulchre,  Holy,  Church  of  the,  400. 
Septuagint,  The,  184. 

Serapeum,  The,  rats,  504. 

Serapion,  of  Alexandria,  291. 
Serapion,  monk,  478. 

Serenus  Granianus,  letter  of,  115. 
-ergius,  of  Constantinople,  advises  the 
edict  of  Heraclius,  555. 

Sergius  HI.,  of  Rome,  rejects  Trullan 
canons,  559. 

Servant  form  of  the  Gospel,  310. 
Sethites,  154. 

Seven  Angels,  72. 

Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  247. 
Seventy,  The,  28,  29,  62. 

Severians,  162. 

Severianus,  353. 

Severus,  Alexander,  145,  222. 

Severus,  Csesar,  slain,  346. 

Severus,  Septimius,  144. 

Sibylline  books,  352. 

Sicily,  Council  in,  447. 

Sick,  Communion  of  the,  326,  327. 
Sige,  87,  108,  149. 

Signs  in  the  Church,  the  State,  the 
world,  245. 
and  wonders,  315. 

Silas,  or  Silvanus,  31. 

Silence  of  Jesus,  The,  109. 

Simon,  S.,  Apostle,  34. 

Simon  Magus,  14,  87. 

Sin  after  Baptism,  238. 

Sine  Charta  et  Atramento^  21 1. 
Siricius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  277,  472. 
wrote  the  first  genuine  Decretal, 
472. 


592 


Index. 


Sirmium,  Council  of,  415,  421. 

Sisters  of  the  Clergy,  227. 

Sixtus,  martyred  in  the  Catacombs, 
264. 

Sketis,  478. 

Slanders,  heathen,  268,  329. 

Slaves,  cruel  treatment  of,  332,  333. 

manumission  not  encouraged,  333. 
Sobriety  of  Christians,  269. 

Social  problems  untouched,  96. 
Societies,  secret,  103. 

Society,  unhealthy  state  of,  477. 
Socrates,  used  the  language  of  the  peo- 
pie,  4. 

Socrates,  Historian,  threefold  bia; 

against  Cyril,  514,  515. 
Sodomites,  155. 

Sophia^  154. 

Sophronius,  of  Jerusalem,  only  orthodox 
patriarch,  556. 

Sotades,  379. 

Sotas,  177. 

Spain,  307. 

tinctured  with  Novatianism,  307. 
Spirit,  Operation  of  the,  178. 

Spirits,  tried,  179. 

S.  P.  O.  R.,  443. 

Spurious  writings,  160. 

Spyridion,  384. 

Statistics  and  rhetoric,  309. 

Stephen,  S.,  stoned,  14. 

Stephen,  Bishop  of  Rome,  254,  261. 

martyred  in  the  catacombs,  264. 
Stoic  ideal,  116. 

Strauss,  typical  character  of  the  mira- 
cles of  Christ,  3. 

Stromata  y 196. 

Subintroductce^  227,  233. 

forbidden,  391. 

Subordination,  168,  172,  175. 

Sylvester,  of  Rome,  383. 

spurious  correspondence,  393. 


Symbols,  numerous,  83. 

Christian,  331. 

Symeon,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  43,  44, 
102. 

martyred,  106. 

Symeon,  Stylites,  533. 

writes  against  Timothy  the  Cat, 
542. 

Symmachus,  504, 

Syncretistic  Schools,  313. 

Synods,  179,  180. 

a united  witness,  180. 
all  present.  Bishops,  Presbyters, 
Deacons,  People,  180. 
Apostolic,  1 81. 
against  Synods,  181. 

Provincial,  321, 

representative  of  the  whpje 
Church,  321. 

Synodal  Epistle,  393. 

Syrian  Gnostics,  155. 

Syrianus,  duke,  424. 

Systole  y 170. 


Tabenna,  478. 

Tatian,  139,  140,  156,  162. 

Tatianites,  162. 

Taurobolia.,  434. . 

Temple,  in  Jerusalem,  attempt  to  re- 
build, 440,  441. 

Terminus.,  retreating,  496. 

his  festival  observed,  341. 
Tertullian,  141,  21 1. 

on  the  good  Emperors,  144. 
on  Tradition,  218. 
his  life  and  labors,  218-222. 
on  demoniacal  possessipn,  317. 
on  Discipline,  318. 
on  the  Christian  Family,  324. 
on  military  service,  330. 
on  non-resistance,  336. 


Index. 


593 


Tertullian,  his  itiindr  errors,  221,  222. 
Tertullianists,  restored  to  the  Church, 
220. 

Thalassius,  of  Caesarea,  at  “ Robber 
Council,*’  531. 

Theandric  Operation,  556. 

Theban  Legion,  340. 

Theda,  59. 

Themison,  I77. 

Theoctistus,  of  Caesarea,  203,  304. 
TheodochoSy  $12. 

Theodora,  Empress,  551. 

head  of  the  Opposition,  551. 
an  irreproachable  wife,  551. 
Theodoret,  of  Cyrus,  525. 

tries  to  explain  at  Chalcedon, 
540. 

anathematizes  Nestorius,  540. 
Thcodorus  of  Mopsuestia,  529. 
Theodosius,  restores  the  Churches  to 
the  Orthodox,  462. 
his  orthodoxy  and  zeal,  463. 
taught,  by  disrespect  to  his  son, 

463- 

convokes  Council  of  Constanti- 
nople, 464. 

Conference  of  Sects,  471. 
Novatians  and  Catholics  approved, 
all  Others  condemned,  471,  472. 
establishes  **  Church  and  State,” 

489-493- 

at  Milan,  501. 

is  sent  out  of  the  chancel,  501. 
case  of  a Synagogue,  501. 
massacre  at  Thessalonica,  502. 
his  penance,  and  restoration,  503, 
504. 


Theodosius  II.,  declines  to  call  a new  . 
Council,  532. 

character  of  his  reign,  533. 
Pulcheria,  533. 
monachism,  luxuriant,  533. 
Eudocia’s  pilgrimage,  534. 
his  death,  535. 

Theodosius,  a Bishop,  returns  raging 
from  Chalcedon,  545. 

Theodotus,  168,  169. 

Theognis,  of  Nicsea,  389,  402. 
Theognostus,  205,  291. 

Theonas,  291,  377,  389. 

Theonas,  monk,  478. 

Theopaschites,  547. 

Theopemptus,  515. 

Theophilus,  Apologist,  1 40,  278. 
Theophilus,  the  Goth,  383,  474. 
Theophilus,  of  Alexandria,  5x4. 
Theophorosy  512. 

Theotecnus,  of  Caesarea,  304. 

Theotokosy  5 10-5 1 3,  522,  527. 
TherapeutcBy  19,  97,  293. 

Thibutis,  43. 

Thiersch,  on  Episcopacy,  61,  72,  80. 
Thomas,  S.,  Apostle,  33,  301. 

Apostle  of  the  East,  528. 

Three  hundred  and  eighteen.  The,  383, 
Thundering  Legion,  143. 

Thurificatiy  236. 

Tiberius,  554. 

Timothy,  S.,  21,  30,  31. 

Timothy,  the  Cat,  542, 

Titus,  31. 

Tonsure,  and  Maximus,  466. 

Tortures  of  martyrs,  128,  129. 

the  punishments  of  slaves,  332, 


severity  against  Pagans,  504. 
Divine  honors  voted  to  him  after 
death,  504. 

Theoddsius  II.,  fosters  both  Heresies, 

532- 


333- 

Tradition,  oral.  Apostolic,  81,  82. 
soon  corrupted,  81. 
appealed  to,  174,  218. 
inveighed  against,  218. 


594 


Index. 


Traditores,  274. 

Trajan,  persecutes,  103-110. 
relents,  105. 

Translations  of  Bishops,  etc.,  forbidden, 
391- 

Tran  substantiation,  denied,  522, 

Triad,  170. 

Trias,  140,  278. 
iTrihe  immersion,  449, 

Trisagion,  with  Antiochean  addition, 
549,  550- 
Tritheism,  168. 

Trullo,  Council  in,  558. 

Ill  Canons,  558. 

Truth,  and  error,  312. 

the  new  ordeal  of,  381. 
real  zeal  for,  532. 

Twelve  foundations,  28. 

Tyana,  Council  at,  447. 

T3rpes  of  doctrine,  S.  John,  S.  Paul,  S. 
Peter,  78. 

S.  James,  79. 

Typus,  The,  of  Constans  IL,  556. 

rejected  at  Rome,  556. 

Tyre,  splendid  church,  304,  350. 
Origen  dies  there,  304. 


Ulfilas,  Bishop  of  the  Goths,  474. 
Unction,  94. 

Unity,  Catholic,  320-324. 
Ursacius,  421,  424. 


Valens,  Arian,  421,  424. 

Valens,  Emperor,  443. 

persecutes  cruelly,  447,  448. 
eighty  priests  burned  at  sea,  448. 
resisted  by  S.  Basil,  457. 
his  offering  refused  at  the  Altar, 
457- 

dies,  460. 


Valentinian  I.,  Emperor,  443. 

dies  suddenly,  460. 

Valentinian  1 1.,  Emperor,  460. 
Valentinus,  154. 

Valeria,  daughter  of  Diocletian,  338, 

343»  347- 

outraged  and  slain  by  Maximin, 

353- 

Valerian,  persecutor,  flayed  alive  by 
Persians,  265. 

Veils,  question  of,  218. 

Venantius  and  Celer,  consulship,  545. 
Venus,  temple  of,  400. 

Vernacular  tongue,  not  commonly  used 
by  the  Clergy  in  the  Provinces, 

295- 

Veronicianus,  Secretary,  537. 

Vesta  Mereiricum,  210. 

Vettius  Epagathus,  Mart)n*,  127. 

Via  media,  175. 

Victor,  of  Rome,  favors  Montanism, 

167. 

excommunicates  the  Asiatics,  188, 
256. 

Victory,  goddess  of,  504. 

Vigilius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  553. 

decides  both  ways  about  the  Three 
Chapters,  553. 

acknowledges  the  instigation  of 
the  Devil,  553. 

accepts  the  Fifth  General  Council 
at  last,  553. 

Vigils  in  cemeteries,  328. 

Vincent  of  Lerins,  221. 

Vincentius,  legate,  383. 

Vincentius,  Bishop  of  Arles,  422. 
Vindelicia,  308. 

Virgins,  60. 

outrages  upon  them,  213. 
their  bad  conduct  in  Africa,  225. 
they  should  marry,  rather  than 
give  scandal,  233,  234. 


Index. 


595 


Virtues,  Christian,  not  popular  among 
the  Heathen,  330. 
public,  not  popular  among  Chris- 
tians, 330. 

Vision  of  Constantine,  355,  356. 
Visions,  fondness  for,  217. 

abundant,  234,  244. 

Vitalian,  bloody  rebellion,  550. 

Vitus,  legate,  383. 


World,  The  Roman,  human,  not  dia- 
bolic, 332. 

Worship,  Public,  94. 

as  described  by  Pliny,  104. 


Xystus,  272. 


York,  347. 


Wars  and  famines,  252. 

Watchers,  479. 

take  part  with  Rome,  549. 
Widows,  65,  332. 

Witness,  threefold,  Rome,  Alexandria, 
Antioch,  175. 
unto  blood,  314. 

Women,  Holy,  57. 

Word,  The,  Alpha  and  Omega  of 
Church  History,  299. 

World,  The  Roman,  300. 

overstocked  with  population,  325. 


Zeno,  Emperor,  issues  Henoticon^  548. 
ignores  Chalcedon  and  Leo’s 
Tome^  548. 

Zenobia,  280,  284. 

Zephyrinus,  169,  190,  226. 

sketch  of  his  Episcopate,  257,  258. 
Zoroaster,  157. 

Zosimus,  on  the  heathen  tyrants,  358. 
on  the  perfidy  of  Constantine,  361. 
his  History  a lampoon,  364. 
Zoticus,  of  Comana,  177. 


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